Blurred Turquoise
by tinylittlebob
Summary: *Sequel to Humanity’s Conscience* As if being physically and emotionally exhausted isn’t bad enough for Tyana, she soon learns there’s a price on her head. More trials, tribulations & horrors follow Tyana as she fights for her life in a love sick st
1. Prologue Blinded By Pain

**Blurred Turquoise **

**Haven't**** Read Humanity's Conscience yet?**** Click on the link 'Harmonized' up ^ there and find it on my bio page. Or copy and paste this url into your browser  http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=781591 **

**Prologue – Blinded By Pain**

Tyana collapsed to the floor in a heap; a blur of blood, tears and cheers surrounding her as she was helped up. Her vision clouded over with red hot tears as she sobbed with a mixture of unbridled joy and utter loneliness. Her eyes burned with the 1000 degrees saline droplets that lined her violet eyes but she could do nothing to rub them away, her limbs being so void of strength that someone had to carry her to one of the emergency beds set up nearby. She couldn't see a thing, making her feel as if she was blinded in more ways than one, but all around her she could hear the hisses of people whose wounds were being treated as well as the ecstatic cries of those involved in the mission. She blacked out before her mind could make sense of where she was or what was happening. 

Tyana slipped into the unconscious. 

***

_Gun fire rung out so loud and so close that it was piercing to the ear drums.__ Snow fell at a chillingly rapid pace, falling over land and ground in a sloth like fashion after its exhausting journey from above. Screams stabbed at the air repeatedly in a seemingly synchronized pattern. Sirens sliced through the close and torturously terrifying atmosphere. And the air was so tight around that it made it dangerously hard for one to simply suck in the air needed to respire just enough to run from this dreaded vicinity.   _

_And Tyana was caught in the very middle of it all. _

_She blinked harshly against the glacial snow and shivered violently in series as she struggled to breathe in the sealed atmosphere. Shrouded in shadows she gazed out, trying her best to see past the white flakes and past the blazing hot red eyes that stared at her with evil intentions just lurking behind them. Small beads of fearful sweat began to collect across her furrowed brow, despite her half frozen state, and her face flushed ablaze with a fiery furnace of anxious perspiration as the rest of her body shivered and shuddered and twisted and turned against the tide of ice. _

_"We can see you" Harsh whispers cut at her skin, followed closely by bursts of insane unrestrained laughter. "Don't you want to know why you can't see us?" the sickening voice murmured into her ear, erupting once more with violent explosions of maddening hilarity. _

_Tyana held back the bile that rose in her throat as the voices continued to torment her. They swirled around her, tripping over one another as they each tried to scream insanely for her attention. The turquoise haired beauty squeezed her eyes shut, not caring if they froze that way in the scorching cold. Somehow they were forced open as another piece of ice metal was pulled into place to join the cuffs that sliced into her wrists, the shackles that bound together her feet, the chains that locked up her arms, the belt that fit snuggled around her waist, all to prevent her escape. Her head was held firm and tight in a jaw like device that would snap her neck in two if someone was to pull it from her the wrong way and she held back a gulp in fear that it would trigger a chain of events that led to her death. But then again, looking around herself at the almost visible insane cackles, the evil red eyes, the blazing blizzard of white, maybe death would be the best outcome. Anything must have been better than this living hell. _

_Slowly tears began to slip from her eyes, like soldiers marching out to war, before they froze painfully to her gentle but burnt and scarred skin. Sobs wracked her chained and locked body, making the breathing harder. She didn't care. Her chest heaved in great pain, burning to inhale, finding it hard to do so. She didn't care. The shackles that kept her began to glow a bright burning red, searing her skin where it held her, angered by her show of emotions. She didn't care. She wanted out. Nothing was worth this torture. Nothing was worth this hurt. This insanity. This life. _

_"I want to go back HOME!" _

***

Tyana shot up, instantly regretting it when she took in the swirling vortex of the world around her. She was drenched with panicked sweat, chilled with unspoken terror and scarred with the wounds of battle. Gentle hands pushed her shoulders back to the bed. 

"Ty, Ty, sssh, calm down, you had a nightmare" a soft and familiar voice soothed. Tyana blinked over and over again until her vision unclouded and then noticed the head of pale green that stared down at her. 

"Bretski?" she mumbled weakly, calming a little when she took a quick glance around her, noting that she was lying in the infirmary back on her birth-plane at mission headquarters. 

The sea of green nodded, "Yeah, it's me." 

At the sound of that clarification Tyana launched herself at the haze of pea in front of her and clung on to it, scared, damaged. "I feel so lost" she managed, her voice cracking. 

"I know, I know" she felt his hand stroking her back to ease her, his other hand clamping to support the back of her head. 

"Why is everything so painful? Why is everything distorted?" Her voice was weak, tortured, a result of the grueling mission she had only 20 minutes ago returned from. 

"It's a side effect of crossing the dimensions" 

"But, it….I-it was n-n-never like that last time" she stuttered, suddenly finding it difficult to piece together sentences as a splitting migraine set in. Her eyes snapped shut as it radiated across her brain and she felt Bret's hand tighten around hers as she breathed through the throbbing. 

"I know. It's very complicated but it all comes down to the fact that all the atoms in your body were mutated briefly when you first crossed over, therefore causing your premature ageing. But those atoms that make up your entire anatomy were weakened again when you passed back over to return home and that's why you're in so much pain. It'll wear off in an hour or so as your body readjusts to the pressures of this plane" He explained. 

Tyana just nodded, hoping the pain would subside as quickly as it had come about. When she could finally open her eyes without the blinding shocks running through her head she replayed what he said and then looked about at all the other people who sat on their beds, recovering from the mission. No one seemed to be as confused and pained as she did. She was, no doubt about it, in the worst condition. 

"Why is everyone recovering quicker? Am I permanently damaged? Bret what's going on? I thought I was strong, why's all this happening?" she gushed, overwhelmed by sudden panic and emotions.  Bret held her close again in that brotherly way she was quickly becoming accustomed to and patted her head gently. 

"Tyana calm down. You'll be fine in a few hours. Everyone else's side effects are just disappearing a lot quicker than yours?" 

She choked back tears, "but why?" 

"Ty you were the youngest one to cross dimensions. Your body was younger than everyone else's that went, ergo it was less developed, newer I suppose. Your atoms became slightly weaker than everyone else's because they weren't used to fighting such pressures. But they'll adjust quickly I promise, by tomorrow morning you will be as right as rain" 

"Promise?" Bret was struck by how tiny and trusting her voice sounded. He pulled back, smiling warmly and nodding. 

"I promise you. Now come on, you need your sleep" 

Tyana slipped down underneath the security of the scratchy thick blankets and took another quick look around. Satisfied she was safe she closed her eyes and waited for the dream world to visit her. 

**********************************

*A/N* Ok, by request, as you can see, I have decided to write a sequel to H.C (Humanity's Conscience) Hopefully this Prologue wasn't too boring for you but I promise you this story will be just as action packed and hopefully as original as the first. So enough of my blabber, please review and let me know what you think of what there is so far (all comments, good or bad, are welcome. Please be constructive though) I look forward to hearing from you :o) 


	2. 1 Merging Dreams

**Chapter 1 – Merging Dreams **

Jeff looked at the television boredly. He sighed and continued to flip through the channels. Finally he gave up, deciding it was all terribly unexciting and fell back on his bed with another deep breath. Staring up at the ceiling he found himself sliding his hands behind his head, locking his fingers together behind his bright mane of orange hair and evening his breathing so that he was calm and silent. His mind wandered from subject to subject but none of them seemed worth thinking of. And so he laid in a void of sound and ponderings. Until his stomach raised uncomfortabley in that way it had been doing all day. He wasn't sure what it was or why it kept doing that because it wasn't a sick sort of turning. His stomach just kept flip flopping whenever he was alone with his thoughts and then he was overwhelmed by a sense of emptiness. Almost loneliness. He already hated the feeling, even though something strange about it told him it would lead him to comfort, and he tried his hardest to distract his attention from the lurking lacking emotion. His eyes dashed about the room lazily and then his mind flipped through various topics of interest. His plan wasn't working. He could still feel it loitering inside him, rising up from his stomach to the center of his chest and resting there, as if over his heart. 

The feeling only grew as he drifted off to sleep…

_Flash.__ Flicker. Scream. Caress. Flash. Flicker. Scream. Caress. Flash, flicker, scream, caress. FlashFlickerScreamCaress. _

_"Where am I?" It echoed off the plain grey walls. _

_Whispers surrounded him, licking at his sore body, bouncing off the walls so fast they seemed to be flashing at him. Blue, green, blue, green...blood red. Lights shrieked and glared at him, flashing around him at an intensely insane speed. Jeff closed his eyes, trying not to see it, to feel it. But even through the mesh of his eyelids he could make out the constant flashes that grew brighter and brighter until they broke through his close eyes and lingered so close that he felt they were inside him, alien in his body. He tried to scream out against it but nothing would spill from his lips. He squeezed his eyes shut harder. It only made the lights flicker at him. _

_Flick, flick…flicker.  _

_Next a blood curdling scream sliced through the air. A scream that sounded desperate, close, pleading, harsh. A scream that seemed familiar. He clamped his hands to his ears but they did nothing to drown out the sound as it grew thick and echoed in the atmosphere around him. "Stop it!" he pleaded. Slowly the scream died out and the lights faded. He peeled open his eyes to find someone beneath him. _

_Suddenly everything became a blur of smiles and pleasure. Sweat and bodies. Jeff could feel someone beneath him, connected with him beyond the physical in which they writhed together hard then soft. Kisses and caresses, lips and hands, chests and thighs. He could hear heavy breathing, moans of ecstasy, mumbles of love. He couldn't distinguish his own voice. He didn't know he was contributing to the sounds of contentment. The body below him flashed; a blur of colour, of life and bliss. A flash of the body unrolled before his eyes with such a great speed he couldn't take it all in. Couldn't note the curves and the contours. Couldn't reach out and touch. It flashed again, a moan loud and satisfied. A blur... _

_Turquoise._

_Everything faded. Flickered flash. Blackness. _

Jeff shot up in bed, sweating and breathing fast. The strong emotion within his chest had grown intensely and beat against his rib cage in a fiery desperate fashion that simply screamed to be acknowledged. It almost burned inside him, almost caused him pain. Part of him was too scared of it to stay awake. But he couldn't sleep, not after that. He had no choice as finally the ball of passion inside his chest calmed and soothed him until he drifted off again… 

_Flash.__ Flicker. Scream. Caress……_

*****

Tyana stared down at the silver table in front of her and sighed before raising her eyes to look at the man who had been assigned her chaperone in this difficult adjustment period. He smiled at her and she returned it weakly before glancing around the cafeteria. The walls were grey and plain, of a matted fashion. The floor was clean and equally as dull in a darker grey. Further down the hall was were one could get something to eat or drink and then several tables were all bolted to the floor in rows and rows of orderly seating. Everything looked so mundanely planned and structured. It all felt like a big smack in the face after what she had been living up until last night.   

"Tyana, will you please eat something?" Bret's voice brought her out of her thoughts concerning how pathetically boring this place was and she looked over at his concerned eyes then nodded meekly and ate a piece of carrot. 

"Better?" he rolled his eyes and just gave her a look that said 'it's-for-your-own-good'. Sighing she picked up her fork and began to eat slowly and with reluctance. She was everything but hungry. Luckily she had recovered from the side effects by this morning, just as Bret had told her she would, but she was left feeling healthy but empty now. The movement of her arm was no longer labored as the medical staff had used modern technology to heal her at the usual rate of 5.6 seconds and now she felt at home in her own body. Except she felt lonely and unwanted and disconcerted. 

Tyana sulked silently for a few minutes more until she decided she needn't burden Bret with her troubles and so tried to seem more upbeat. She started a simple conversation about what would happen to her now even though she had been told over and over since her return that she and the rest of the mission would be kept in this underground vicinity until they were fit and well enough, both mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually to return to the now very different world above them. Tyana wasn't sure if she would ever feel ready to face that world again but she knew the day would come when she would have to. She supposed it was better to suck it up and get on with it than allow herself to be defeated and sulk back into the darkness whenever company draws near. Bret finally finished explaining and she just nodded before moving onto a different topic. 

"So, um, how exactly does that whole memory erased thing work?" Tyana asked curiously, trying to sound indifferent and nonchalant about the answer she was desperate for. 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like, surely you can't just delete everyone's memories, they wouldn't know who they are or anything. The world would be chaos" 

Bret smiled at her naïve confusion and explained it as he set his coffee down onto the silver table top, "Well not everyone is affected. You see only people who had contact with yourself and the others will have their memories erased. But, not their entire memory, just the memory of the people of the mission. Take a shop assistant for example. If you had gone to her one day with a complaint about a product and they has assisted you in that complaint they will no longer remember it. Instead they will think nothing out of the usual had happened that day"  

Tyana took that in and sat there in dreaded contemplation. She nodded, "Right so, take, um, Jeff for example" she began. Bret had known when she first began asking that Jeff was the person that sparked her curiosity but he pretended along with her that the bright haired youth had just been someone that pounced from the tip of her tongue with no before consideration and contemplation. "For all the time we spent together, his mind will remember every day events. Like, he won't even remember my existence." Bret nodded. "He'll just think his life has been nothing but, well, ordinary for the last few months we knew one another?" 

"That's right" 

Tyana fell silent and stared down into barely touched meal blankly. Bret watched her with concern for several minutes until she finally raised her head and excused herself to supposedly go for a walk. She ambled off miserably, the spring in her step that he had noticed when she had been in the other dimension, nothing but a distant recollection now. Part of her had faded. That part was still alive in a parallel world. And there was no way in which she could rejuvenate it. Bret's heart went out to her. Things were going to be tough from now on. But he had every confidence in her, he really did.  

******************************

***A/N* Hey there purty people, how's u? Good? Glad to hear it. Well thank you on the feedback, I'm glad you approved of the prologue. I've got a nice plotline in mind so hopefully the updates should be at nice regular intervals :o) thank you for reading and please leave a review **

**Thanks to those who reviewed: **

**Bailey: lol, I'm writing a sequel *does a little dance* I'm SO glad you're reading it. I was afraid I'd start it and no one would bother taking a look at it *phew* lol. Glad you liked the prologue, hope you liked this chapter too. Things will get better soon I hope, thank you for reviewing :o)**

**Shadow: *waves* hey girl, I'm_ well happy that you liked the prologue :o) yey *cheers and jumps about with balloons* I hope you continue to read because as long as I know someone is enjoying the story then I will continue to write. Thanks for reviewing :o)  _**


	3. 2 Insanity

Chapter 2 – Insanity 

Tyana placed the newest V.R band onto her head and clasped it down over her eyes. She sighed, chose the work out she wanted and then took up a fighting stance. This Virtual Reality program wasn't so much illusory as it was real. Most people from the mission used it to work out and brush up on fighting techniques because not only did you imagine your opponent but a computer generated opponent would actually appear in front of you and the hologram meant your blows were actually landed on something instead of flying through thin air. The first time one used it was pretty strange but for Tyana she picked up on it easily and never lost a battle to the V.R computer. 

Tyana secured the band across her eyes and waited for the computer generated opponent to appear. The second it faded into view in front of her she kicked it in the chin and then smashed a palm into the dark figure's nose, causing blood to spurt everywhere. Ready and willing to go all out in this work out Tyana flipped backwards to give herself a little more room then landed in a stance ready for combat. The figure charged towards her but she spun to the side simply then brought an arm out out-stretched and slammed her fist into the back of their head. She dropped to the floor, keeping a leg out and spun around to swipe them off their feet. They crumpled to the floor and Tyana waited for them to get to their feet, bored of the lack of response so far. 

Slowly the pace began to pick up and the fight was less one sided. For every blow she landed one was returned and soon they were both blooded and bruised in battle. Tyana's anger bubbled, coming dangerously close to boiling over, as she imagined the faces of every guard, every chip-holder, everyone who had every hurt her. Slowly but surely she took back control of the fight and continued to beat the generated figure to a bloody pulp. 

Meanwhile as Tyana battled with the latest in technology Bretski stood in the doorway, watching her with arms crossed. Her motions were fluent and crisp as she cut the air in two around her. As he didn't have the band on he could not see her opponent or the special effects of blood and pain that the machine emitted but he could tell by the contorted facial features of his young friend and the strength of her actions that the battle she was fighting served as more than a work out for her. She was releasing pent up frustrations and emotions that her ordeal had left her with. Bret wanted to sigh and tell her she could talk to him whenever she needed or wanted to but he knew Tyana and he knew she had her own way of dealing with things. And that was to let it bubble inside of her until she had to blow it all out, just as she was doing now. It had been several days since she had returned from the other dimension and although she was healed, she was one of the few from the mission who had been refused permission to leave the vicinity due to her emotional unstable state. Physically, as always, she was in perfect condition, and mentally she was as capable and intelligent as she had always been. Spiritually she was aware and open but emotionally she was broken and lost. Broken because she could remember the love that her heart's desire could not and lost because she had no way to get back to him and help him remember. 

And that's when Bret began to feel the guilt he had managed to hold back for so long. There was a way she could get back to Jeff. She_ could_ cross the dimensions if she truly wanted to do so but it was a very dangerous procedure that may damage her body permanently—if she survived that is. Her body had already sustained tremendous pressure by crossing sides once each way and it surely could not hold up yet again to cross over without some harm being done, even if she was never to cross back over again. It was likely the atoms that made up her body could not cope with the transfer. There was no way she would ever be permitted to cross over. And yet he knew that's all she wanted. 

Finally Bret did sigh, saturated with the guilt of keeping the truth from her. But he was under oath by the mission to never bring any harm to or allow an action that could bring about any harm to his Guided, and that was Tyana. And by telling her of the possibility of life on the other side—well that could harm her in many ways. He wouldn't tell, he decided, it was best for Tyana to just get over her heartache and then return to life on the outside. 

He was snapped out of his inner battle of conscience when Tyana sank to her knees and placed her hands firmly in front of her, square beneath her shoulders. 

And then her tears began to fall. 

***

Jeff stared at his brother, waiting for the reaction. 

"A chick in blue you say?" Matt raised an eyebrow skeptically, not quite sure what his brother was saying. 

Jeff nodded, "Yeah, a sort of turquoise"

"And you've been dreaming about her?"

"Yeah. Well, I don't know whether it's a dream or a nightmare. You see, it's really horrible at first because there are all these lights and hideous screams and it's just, dreadful. But then there's this girl and she's just lying there but everything's really blurry"

"So?" 

"So, it's weird. I can't even make her out but somehow I know what's happening and although I can't really see much I feel as if I know everything about her, every line of her body, everything. And she's gorgeous"

"I thought you can't see her"

"I can't"

Matt looked utterly lost, "Jeff if you can't see her how on earth do you know she's gorgeous?"

"You just do. I mean when I say I can't see her, I can, but she's just sort of blurred. It's not like you can see everything happening properly. It's like time is cut up and pasted in the wrong places" 

"So, what, she gets there before you've even kissed her?" Matt laughed a little, finding amusement in the way Jeff described it. 

"Matt it's not funny, it's seriously freaking me out, I can't go to sleep without this fucking twisted dream creeping me out!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me. But seriously bro, what do you expect me to say? No body knows your subconscious better than you do. I don't know why you're having these dreams; no one can figure that out but you" he shrugged helplessly, patted his younger brother on the shoulder and then got up and left. Jeff sighed and leaned back into his chair. He rested his head in his hands with closed eyes. But all he saw was his dream flashing before him. His eyes flew open. 

"This has gotta stop" he mumbled defeated, shaking his head then running his hands through his hair, "she's gonna drive me insane" 

***

Bret walked over to her carefully, pulling her up out of the heap she lay in and cradling her to him, trying to calm her sobs. Her whole body shook with the pure power of her broken heart and she shivered in his embrace as she wept away the pain until she could cry no longer. The time ticked away as Bret just held her close, trying to calm her cries, but nothing he could say to her seemed to help. She just cried harder. Finally, when her cheeks were red raw, her eyes were puffy and tired, her throat dry and sore, she tried to quiet down and then through her silent sobs she looked up at the man who was the closest thing to a sibling she every had. 

"Bret…I want him back" he nodded, pulling some of her bright turquoise hair away from where it stuck to her red and wet cheeks, telling her he understood. He knew she did. But she couldn't have him. She cried a little harder but still tried to speak, "Isn't there any way…I…I-I want to go back…is there no way?" Her voice cracked and split with her tortured questions and her eyes were wide and large, violet and clouded. She only looked the shell of the vibrant woman she really was inside. Bret felt his heart split in two when he shook his head and she broke down again. 

He couldn't tell her the truth. He couldn't bring her any harm. 

After all, the oath was more important than her sanity, right? 

Suddenly he wasn't so sure. 

********************************************

***A/N*** ok, I wrote tons to this while FF.net was down and now I've got like 10 chapters. Lol, I should post at least one a day now then. Please leave me a review to let me know what you think of the story so far :o)

**Shadow**: Yeah, he kinda remembers, well, his subconscious sort of remembers I think is the best way to describe it but can't remember her at will. Which is so sad isn't it? *throws back of hand over forehead and sniffs dramatically* lol. Ahh well, watch this space for more updates, thanks for reviewing :o)


	4. 3 Out

Chapter 3 – Out 

Tyana sat silently on her single sheeted bed with her legs hugged to her chest, her chin leaning on them with a melancholy expression etched on her face. There had to be a way. She couldn't be stuck in this place forever. No matter how sad she was and how desperate she was to make it over to the other side _some how_, right now all she wanted was to be let out of this _place_. This disinfected blank. This huge bank of silver technology. Of lonely empty rooms. This grey, grey room. She wanted out. Even though she knew staying here was her only connection to figuring out a way to cross over. Her conflicting emotions battled it out as she sighed and got to her feet to pace. 

On the one hand she was miserable. She needed to see Jeff even though he wouldn't remember her. She needed to speak to him, to hear him. She just wanted the chance to at least _try_ to jog his memory, no matter what a lost cause it would be. And staying in the vicinity, staying here where monitor's and chaperones could watch over every single step she took and move she made was the only way. On the outside, that was where she would be alone and forgotten. 

But then again, being cooped up inside just because she was love sick was driving her insane. As if being tired and broken and lost and unloved wasn't enough, the last thing she needed was people asking her if she was ok, if she needed anything, how she was feeling. She needed to be outside to see the sky and hear life. She needed to breathe in air that hadn't been filtered hundreds of feet into the ground layer just so she could respire. She needed to find a huge crowd, where she was just another face, and slip into it unnoticed. She needed to disappear so that she could cry and whine and ache without someone trying to comfort her. She needed freedom. 

Tyana scoffed at the irony of it. She had joined the mission to give freedom to the man she now loved and in return she had ended up sacrificing her own freedom. She was locked up because she had become too close to someone. And she wouldn't be let go until Bretski could go to the head of operations and truthfully say that she was as well as she was when she had joined up; that she was ready to be introduced back into society. That she was done with being a hamster, locked up, nothing to do but run wheels in the stupid fitness room. 

"I hate being a hamster" Tyana muttered, still taking the room that was her night quarters in her sure stride. And then it clicked; Bretski. He was her ticket out of here. He understood her. He understood that she needed to heal. So surely he would understand that she couldn't heal, not here, not shut away from humanity. She had been their conscience; now let them repay her. Let them continue with their cruelty so she had no chance but to toughen up and pretend with them that love wasn't real. How she longed to be in that denial with the rest of the masses hundreds of feet above her. She left the room with a clear destination and soon found herself standing in it, staring down at the man who could help her help herself. 

"Bretski" she began, sitting down across from him with her face a mask of seriousness, "I need your help" 

The next day Tyana looked at the pale green haired man with a smile. 

"Thank you so much Bret, I could have never gotten out of that place without you, I owe you a huge one" 

He shook his head, "Think nothing of it, I'm glad you can get away from it all now." 

Tyana smiled gratefully and then hugged her friend. When she pulled back she looked down at the tiny set of communicative devices he had set in her hand. In her luggage she already had the two communicators she had been given on the mission and now in her hand she held a tiny pager, a cell—a more efficient and modern version of one than the other dimension used—an earpiece and a radio. Obviously they were preparing so that should Tyana need immediate contact with someone from the mission she could get it instantaneously. Tyana packed away the devices into her bag and then nodded and hugged Bret one more time. 

"You take care now, you hear? And give a guy a call every once in a while too, yeah? Oh and remember if you need anything material then just use that credit slip we had set up for you, and Ty please just—"

"—Bret, calm down, I will be fine. I have the card, the address to the apartment you had set for me and I have a strong mind on my shoulders. You don't need to worry about me, k?" she cupped his face in her hands, assuring him in a stern but gentle voice. He nodded. "Good, now, I'm gonna walk out that door, run up those steps and burst into the big wide world and do you know what the first thing I do when I get to my new place is?" she shook his head for him, "I'm going to call you. Ok?"

"Ok"

"Good, ok, then I will speak to you later, bye bye" she kissed his cheek. 

"Bye Ty" 

Tyana picked up her case, waved to him one last time then passed through the door. She looked at the staircase in front of her, the over her shoulder back at the door that had led her to her fate, and then back up. She thundered up the stairs full of hope and excitement and then through the doors that led her out into the real world. 

It took her hours to find humanity away from the secluded area of mission head quarters and took her yet another hour to find her apartment. And the first thing she did when she closed the door behind her…

Was cry. 

*** 

The days slowly passed Tyana by but she spent a great percentage of her time locked up inside the flat that the mission had rented for her. On her first day out she had eventually calmed enough to phone Bret but not before she had made sure it looked like she hadn't been crying. After all, this realm didn't have telephones, instead they had large screen that would shoot down from the ceiling so you could see and talk to the person you wished to contact. And knowing seeing her so miserable and wet would upset Tyana she took a little time to fix her appearance and then made out that it simply took her a little longer to find her apartment than she had thought. Bret snapped up the fib without a second thought—wishful thinking she supposed—and after a brief 'how's it feel?' chat she was alone again with her thoughts. And her tears. 

But she had been free—in some sense of the word—for 4 days now and Tyana had only eaten once. Her stomach was shockingly angry and its hunger was stated every few seconds with a large snarl. Sighing, Tyana realized not only did she need to eat but she needed to get outside and interact with people. She showered away the tears and dirt and sadness and then dressed in the clothes Bret had insisted be made for her. Her wardrobe was full of custom made replicas of all the clothes she had bought while on the other side as well as some of a similar style that she had never actually purchased. That day she was wearing a pair of baggy blue pants and a mid-rift white shirt. She knew she wouldn't fit in outside of her apartment, outside of her place of solitude, but quite frankly she didn't care. She intended to be in a place where she did fit in rather soon. A specific place that is. The other dimension. 

Sure, the matter of crossing over was still one she had yet to find an answer for, and hell, she didn't even know how she was supposed to survive on the other side if she ever actually got there. She would figure it out though. As soon as she ate.

Tyana grabbed her credit slip and re-read her new identification card, memorizing the details in case she needed them, and left. 


	5. 4 Run

**Chapter 4 - Run**

Jeff fought to keep his eyes open as he yawned in boredom and tiredness. He blinked quickly then once again concentrated on widening his eyes. He heard his brother sigh, 

"Jeff would you please just go to sleep already, this is gonna be a long flight and I know you're exhausted." 

"I can't"

"No, you mean you won't, there's a very distinct difference between the two" 

"Matt I hate that dream, it's driving me insane and I've been having it for an entire week now. And if I get it one more time I swear to my manic-panic I will loose it, I honestly will"

"Jeff, as far as everyone is concerned, you've already lost it, so it won't hurt to try, ey? Now go to sleep?" Matt finished the conversation by turning around to be more comfortable in his chair and then fell asleep himself. 

Jeff sighed with a great heave of air and realized he had no choice really. He hadn't slept for days—not properly—and the exhaustion was more likely to drive him into the depths of insanity than some stupid dream about some stupid women he hadn't even met. He gave sleep another try.

_"What took you so long?" echoes. _

_Jeff looked around him, "What?"___

_"I've been waiting" _

_He looked again. He couldn't see anything through the mist, through the fog. A huge blanket of grey lay thickly around his head, blurring his vision. "I can't see you" he shouted back, hoping maybe whoever it was would step forward and make themselves known. Nothing happened for a while as the mist continued to swirl around him. Jeff just squinted against the dark clouds, noticing that the mist was grower darker and thicker, hoping that it was all in his imagination. It was becoming hard to breathe, so very hard. The fog was heavy and damp, clogging up his throat as he tried his best to inhale. Suddenly a cold wind brushed over him, pushing the mist away and he found himself standing in the night, in a wide empty open space. He could feel snow crunching beneath his feet as he turned in a small circle, looking for any signs of life, even those of plants. All he saw was snow and darkness, and darkness and snow. _

_"Hello?" his voice echoed out around him, as if there were thousands of him with an equally confused and curious voice. He received no response but his own voice. "Anyone?" Echoed again. Strangely he could feel the vibrations of the echoes flowing through him, making him shudder deep In his core at how wrong it felt. Jeff took a few steps forward, not seeing anything, anyone. Just the cliché of white and black. There weren't even stars in the thick black night sky. Everything was blank. Jeff turned back, finding himself staring down at the footprints in the snow. He dropped to his knees, studying them. They weren't his. They were too small, too close together, too feminine. Someone else was lost out here too, they had to be. _

_"Hello? Is anyone else here?" this time his voice didn't come back. It was just swallowed up into the void of life. He hung his head low again, looking back down at the footprints that didn't belong to him. And then he heard it. Crunch, crunch, crunch of snow beneath shoes, beneath someone else's shoes. Before he could even lift his head the shoes were beneath his face and they were attached to a body. Overcome with a strange emotion he was unsure whether he wanted to lift his head. He did so slowly. _

_Jeff's eyes trailed up long, muscular legs, tanned a creamy honey, and then over a short, suede, beige skirt that hugged curvy hips. The skirt ended low on the hips and a flat toned stomach was evident before the material of a mid-rift black top cut off the view and carried up over pert breasts and ending with cleavage. Jeff got to his feet as his eyes continued up over a delicate collar bone, up a neck, over a soft jaw line, slightly parted red lips, deep violet eyes and ending up on the bright short turquoise hair. He sucked in a breath. And those lips parted in an incandescent smile. _

_Jeff stared at them and then shook it off and looked back into those eyes. Those mesmerizing, hypnotizing, spellbinding, violet eyes. Familiar__ eyes.__ He got caught in them as they swirled, flecks of lilac glowing bright towards the center, a ring of dark purple around the edge of the iris. Gorgeous. Swirling, swirling. "Do…do I know you?" the words left Jeff's lips in a voice that was unsure but hopeful. The smile on the beauty's lips grew wider. She nodded a little, not speaking. "How?" Her eyes shimmered excitedly and she bit a lip but she didn't say anything. "What?" no response. Her eyes just kept shimmering like that. "Why won't you answer me?" She took a step closer, still smiling and shrugged. Jeff felt his heart pound at how close she was. And then she rested a hand on his chest. And he felt his heart jump start, desperate to leap out of his body. It smacked hard to get out but it couldn't break through. Her other hand rested on his chest alongside her first. His heart missed a beat. And his whole body jerked. _

_Jeff parted his lips to speak but he had lost his voice. And this woman had found hers. _

_"Long time no see, I was really beginning to miss you" something about the way she was speaking to him, so softly, with such patience and openness, dripping with sweetness, almost like sugar or honey,  it was memorable to him. It was recognizable. They must have met before. But how could he have forgotten someone so beautiful, so electric? She grinned at his confusion. "You don't remember me?" She pushed him backwards gently, as if she was ushering him somewhere. The woman shrugged, "Understandable I suppose" And then her lips fell into a pout, exaggerated, making them look so full and tempting and so very, very close. Her eyes even pouted. Jeff fought back the dizziness. "Although I must admit that does disappoint me. I had big plans you see" She leaned into him then, making him loose his breath. Her lips veered off though and landed near his ear, and he was consumed with a strong wave of warmth as she whispered to him, "I was going to make you mine" And then one of her hands moved. She rested it on his shoulder, just close enough to his neck so that the tips of her fingers grazed it, sending shocks down his spine. "All__ mine" And her other hand moved when she pulled away, resting it on his cheek. Her thumbs moved to caress his jaw and Jeff suddenly felt he was going to collapse as his knees buckled beneath him. She seemed to notice. _

_His voice returned. It was then apparent they shared one. He ceased his chance to speak before she could do so again. "I don't remember you, I'm sorry, but I don't" she nodded, in understanding and then let her fingers move from her jaw to his lip. He sighed, "I really__ wish I did" she kissed him, just below where her finger was lying softly on his lip. His knees buckled again, "Really__ wish" She pressed her lips to his cheek, smiling against it, and then stepped back. Jeff felt his arms go out to catch her, wanting to pull her back, wanting more than a few little kisses. Wanting her. And then her hand was moving in a small wave, her face etched with apologies, some hope lingering in her eyes, "What? No. No, don't go. At least tell me who you are" And she faded away. Jeff fell back to the snow, cold and crestfallen. The wind picked up. _

_And he heard it whisper. Heard her whisper on the breeze, "find me, I'm in your heart…please just find me"       _

Jeff woke up with a start, his breathing heavy and strained again. He sighed. His mind replayed the last words of his dream. 

_"Find me, I'm in your heart…please just find me"       _

And he nodded his head, determined, passionate, "I'll try, I swear I'll try"

***

Tyana paid for her meal and strolled out of the high-tech café. It was nothing out of the ordinary really. Look through the menu and place your order on your table's computer. Have it served instantly on your table by the aid of a high tech motion belt. Pay and eat. Personally, she preferred the other world's way of dining. It was a lot less anti-social. Tyana took the sidewalk's clean and unblemished surface in her leisured stride and slipped her hands into her pocket. Her mind rocked back and forth between subjects—I'll give you three guesses what subjects they were—and she sighed once more. _I gotta stop doing that, it's becoming a habit. _

"Excuse me, miss" she heard a small voice ask from somewhere nearby. She looked about to see if it was directed at her. "Miss" the voice said quietly again. Tyana looked down to find a little girl, standing by her leg, clutching a stuffed animal, her eyes wide and teary "Miss I'm lost" For a moment Tyana forgot what dimension she was in—this girl was not typical of this realm. She stared down at the child warily. Children didn't get lost in this realm. They all had special trackers made to fit into their clothes and even if the tracker failed there was always a child control unit nearby should they be needed. And the stuffed animal; they were non existent to most here. They only came about when it was apparent most people that were watched in the Witnessing had them and even so, they were more of a novelty than an actual toy or piece of comfort. Tyana felt her hair stand up on the back of her neck. But she pushed aside the emotion, telling herself she was being paranoid. This reality wasn't perfect, ergo it was possible that a child really could get lost. Tyana crouched down so they were at eye level. 

"Hey. You're lost you say?"

The little girl nodded, her curly orange locks bopping with her head, "I can't find my mommy" 

"Aww, ok sweetie, well we'll go find her ok?" Tyana held out her hand to the small child, intent on taking her to the nearest child control point to have her tracker scanned and her prints taken for identification. No wonder the people of this world were so twisted and sick, look what would happen to them if they got lost as a child; they were treated like criminals. It was society's fault. Tyana snapped back to the present as the girl looked at her hand with big eyes and then up at her face. Slowly a grin twisted onto what had looked to be such a sweet and perfect mouth. And Tyana knew she had been right to be suspicious to begin with. 

The sound of a bullet leaving the barrel of its gun struck Tyana a split second before her reflexes kicked in and she flipped into the street. Under normal circumstances she would have begun to ponder how in this realm they didn't have cars to travel by but instead a giant network of transparent tubes that sucked you to your destination. But these weren't normal circumstances. And bullets were following her every move, missing closely by mere inches. Tyana landed in a crouch but she shot to her feet in a second and did the only thing she could do without a weapon; she ran. 

****************************************************

***A/N* Oooo, getting interesting yet? Lol, the next couple chapters should be quite packed I hope, with you know, a little action, emotions blah dee blah dee blahhh! Lol. Please leave a review, whatever you say can only improve the story :o)**

**Shadow: lol you're the only one actually reading this story, lol, I don't know why but to me it's rather amusing. Any who glad you liked the last chapter, I think details are the most important thing in the actual writing of a story alongside the plot and characters, of course, so I try my best to pay attention to them. I hope it's working out. Thanks for reviewing :o)**


	6. 5 Most Wanted

**Chapter 5 – Most Wanted**

Tyana sprung into her apartment, glad that there were so many locks on the doors, and bolted every one of them. The attempts on her life had stopped a few thousand yards from her building but she wasn't willing to take any risks. 

The first thing she did now that she was locked up safely inside her apartment was grab a gun from her Chest of Protection and check through her apartment for company. When it was apparent she was alone she dashed to the picture phone communicator and smashed the number of mission headquarters into the phone. She added Bretski's Extension number and waited shaken and impatiently for him to answer. Seconds later his face appeared on the screen. 

"Morning Ty how's—" he noted the grave painting of her face, "What's wrong?"

"Someone tried to frailing kill me that's what's wrong"  

"What?" 

"I went to eat because I was so frailing hungry and on my way back there was this little girl. And she said she was lost. So at first I thought it was totally weird because no one gets lost here. And it's even weirder 'cause she had a teddy bear, right? And so we started talking and then she just grins. And it was _sick and __twisted and it was __horrible. And then someone started __shooting at me. And they just didn't stop. And Bret I had to run.__ Me, __I had to run away from a fight. I can't believe it" she shook violently as she said it, more out of anger than fear. _

"Frail, Ty are you alright?"

"I'm not injured if that's what you mean"   

"Thank goodness, was anyone else?"

"I'm not sure; I was too busy running for my frailing life to see if the stray shots got anyone. I don't think so though, they were too close to me to have gotten anyone else. Bret I'm telling you, whoever was trying to kill me has a frailing good aim, I was scared shitless, I really was." 

"Ok, Ty I think it's best if you just stay where you are now and I'm gonna have some people come and get you ok? We'll bring you back here for safety while we try and figure out who this person is, ok?"

"Bret, no! I_ just got out, I can't come back, I hate it there, you're the only person who will have a decent conversation with me and you're always working and I just hate it, I hate it" _

"Tyana I'm sorry but someone is trying to kill you, broken heart or not, you're going to have to come back here" Bret explained calmly but firmly. He looked at the distress and panic on her face. She really did hate it in the vicinity. And so he hated having to insist upon it. 

"Bret, what, what if I stay here? What if I don't leave my flat? They didn't follow me back here, maybe they don't know where I'm living, Bret please"

Bret stared at her through the screen, at her pleading eyes, at her small childlike expression. She was desperate. "Ty, you can't live locked up in your flat. How will you eat? It's hardly going to be any life" 

"I don't care; I don't have a life when I'm locked up in the vicinity either. Bret, I'm begging you, let me stay here, I can protect myself, I'll always carry something with me, and communicators too. _Please" Her hands were clasped towards over her chest, her violet eyes pleading through the strays of turquoise that had fallen in front of them. _

He relented with a sigh, "alright BUT you must carry two weapons, you must carry two communicators and you must check in with me thrice a day. And Tyana, I assure you; if anyone else tries to kill you again you are coming straight back here. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly, crystal, yes, it's clear, I promise, I will do exactly that. Deal" she was nodding enthusiastically, flustered by getting her way. 

"Ok, now I'm going to tell the head what happened, but Ty if he orders you back here you have to come, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I know"

"Ok, I'll speak to you when I get news"

"Right, bye"

The screen went blank. Tyana sighed and sunk into a chair, trying her best to summon up a mental picture of who had been trying to kill her. All she remembered was he was big and dark. It was hardly a lead. She fell asleep that night clutching her gun. 


	7. 6 One Second

**Chapter 6 – One Second**

Tyana stepped out of the shower, shaking the water from her hair. She wrapped herself in a towel then found another for her bright locks. She rubbed at her head of soaked turquoise and walked through to her bedroom, leaving small puddles of her little footprints behind her. She combed through her dripping hair and then unwrapped her towel and began to dry herself. But a mirror—or reflective panel as it was known as in this realm—across the room caught her eye and she curiously crossed the room to look into it. She looked at her bare body, noting for the first time every single difference from the months before when she had only been 17. She was taller now and so womanly. Her hips were round and curved, the way she had been told many men liked them. Her thighs, just as they always had been, were toned and muscular and her stomach was just as flat and well kept. Her breasts, she noticed, were somewhat larger than she had predicted they would be by the time she reached 24 but they weren't too large. They were a nice size she concluded. Her arms, in the same way as her legs, were also muscle bound but not so much so that they didn't look feminine. They just looked like she could handle herself, which she could, but they were also just small enough at a first glance not to look threatening. Which she supposed they really weren't until her adrenaline got going. That was why she was so deadly. Because the chemicals of her body knew how to use what she had. And she had enough to do some serious damage. 

And so she smiled. Someone wanted to kill her? Who _cared? She could handle herself just fine. Tyana nodded firmly. And then she dried and dressed. __Bring it on.  _

She strapped on her watch as she left the bedroom. Tyana settled onto her couch with a bored sigh and looked about her. It was a nice place. But it was typical of this dimension. Ever since she had returned 'home' she couldn't help but compare everything to Jeff's world. And to tell the truth, this dimension very rarely came through on top. It was too cold, too hard, too 'perfect'. It tried too hard; and to no avail. It wasn't personal. No one was real. No one shared their feelings; everything could be taken at face value because there simply wasn't any depth to anything. And it was hopeless. She hated it all. 

There was a ring of the bell at her door. And Tyana's brow creased. No body knew she was here. No body knew she was_ alive. No one it was safe to associate with anyway. No one but the mission. And even they wouldn't stop by unannounced. She grabbed her gun. Well, one of them. Tyana strapped another on into her waist band and inched towards the door, her gun poised and ready to shoot the frail out of whoever was on the other side. Whoever shouldn't have been on the other side. Her hand lingered over the button that she would press to open the door. She applied pressure. The hiss sounded and the door shot open. And she was faced with a stranger. Who held a gun. _

"Tyana, I have a message for you" they said, pulling their gun out so that it was straight forward, aimed at her head, "We'd all like you to die"  

Tyana wasn't expecting there to be a pause but there was one nonetheless. And she couldn't help but be cocky, "that's awfully nice of y'all to warn me but ain't no one dying today" she caught them off guard by raising a leg and smashing the gun clean from his grasp within half a blink of an eyelid. God she loved her speed. "Oh yeah, except you" Tyana pointed the gun at his head and applied pressure to the trigger. The bullet left the barrel. But her target had moved. She was clasped from behind. _Frailing hell, she cursed silently, she had never seen anyone move like that. Even__ she couldn't do that. She wasn't dealing with a normal person she realized. Well, as normal as one could be going around trying to kill innocent love-sick people who simply wanted to help a different humanity. It was obvious, she concluded, that she was dealing with a bad guy. __No shit Sherlock. _

Tyana stopped distracting herself as she felt her neck being squeezed so tight that her head may pop off. But she knew what she was doing; the killer was a guy—a different guy to the one who had tried to kill her the day before—but a guy nevertheless. She kicked backwards with a force that no one else could possess. He released her from his grip, doubling over. Tyana spun around and slapped him in the head with a spinning heel kick—one of her specialties—and then he fell to the floor. "Shit, _man, you're still conscious?" she whined, taking in his wincing. She sighed, exasperated by him. And just plan kicked him in the head with great force. He blacked out. _

Tyana tied him to a chair, chaining him with cuffs that had been conveniently kept on his person. She didn't even want to know why she decided as she cuffed him up to the rungs of the chair. And then she grabbed all of her belongings—what very few she could call hers—and packed them. There were at least two people out to kill her. And something told her the number was larger. Something told her she should leave. Something told her Bret was right; the safest place for her was that god awful vicinity, head quarters. Tyana called Bret to let him know what had happened. He agreed she should return immediately but not after he had said she didn't have time to interrogate the man that lie still out stone cold on her lounge floor. She left in a hurry. Sure she could take on whoever tried it on with her but she wasn't stupid; she wasn't perfect and was bound to mess up some when. And considering what these men were trying to do, a mess up could be fatal. And so she was on her way. And just like everything else, she hated that fact. 

Tyana was greeted at the doors of the head quarters and searched for illegally planted tracers and such. Once she and her baggage were cleared she trotted down the steps, through the door, and then was pulled into a hug by Bretski. 

"I told you, you should've come back here last night"

"Well you know me, I'm just plain stubborn" She laughed. 

Bretski rolled his eyes, "Tyana, how can you laugh? Someone tried to killed you less than 3 hours ago and that was only 21 hours after someone tried to do the same thing yesterday" 

Tyana shrugged, picked up her bag and began walking; finding that, of course, Bret followed her, "So what? I'm obviously so damn good looking that if someone can't have me they would rather I die" she feigned another laugh. 

Bret sighed and caught the crook of her arm in his hand, stopping her and turning her to face him, "Ty, stop it, it's not funny and you know it. What are you really feeling?"

"For real?" he nodded. And she let down her shields, "I hate to say it Bret…but I'm afraid,"

"Because of what happened?"

"No…afraid because I have a feeling that someday they'll succeed"  

***

Jeff glanced down at his watch, finding that it was 5:15 exactly. He quickened his pace, heading towards his locker room to get ready and warm up before he was due in the ring. He shivered suddenly, overtaken by a feeling that something was very wrong. And then the headache hit. His mind split in two, cracking his head with agony. Jeff clamped onto the stair rail of the staircase in the arena, pausing on the step as he free hand rose to clamp to his smashing skull. He tried to scream out in his pain but nothing would leave his lips. And then he saw it. 

_Flash._

The girl in front of her mirror, examining her body. The girl from his dreams. Determined.

_Flash._

Strapping on her watch.  5:15. 

_Flash._

The look on her face as she stared. Clasping her gun. 

Flash.

The evil grin of a man. The gun in his hand. Outstretched arm. Aimed at her head. 

_Flash._

The girl's cocky smile. Her gun poised. 

_Flash._

A sequence so quick Jeff couldn't register it. The result; the man on the floor, the girl backing away. 

_Flash._

The man tied up. The girl packing. 

_Flash._

Her face as she fled. Terrified. And angry. A blur of turquoise. 

_Flash._

Her eyes. Deep. Violet. Familiar. In pain…

_Flash._

Jeff shook it off, suddenly finding he could see again. The pain in his head disappeared as quickly as it had come about and for no reason he found himself glancing at his watch. 5:15:01. That was impossible. All that pain, all that information, all those events. _All within a second? He didn't believe it. Something must have been going wrong with his watch. He came over dizzy. Or maybe it was his mind that was going wrong. He didn't have time to decide before he collapsed at the foot of the stairs. 5:15:02. _

*****************************************************************

***A/N* Two chapters this time, mainly just because I felt like giving you a little more excitement to follow up on the first attempt to kill Ty :o)**

**Shadow: lol, the lone reviewer, that's a good name for you, suits well. Lol, you're making me blush again *bright red* I originally hadn't intended to use the child actually but I realized it was a bit naff to just suddenly have someone start shooting with anything before hand so I used the kid to give it a more planned nature and make it more twisted. Hopefully I kept up with the details in these chapters—I know I didn't in _Most Wanted (5)—thank you for reviewing :o)_**


	8. 7 Now Try

**Chapter 7 – Now Try**

Tyana sat in her room, waiting to be called to the meeting that had been set up between her, Bretski and the heads of the mission. She was racking her brain trying to think of arguments that she could use to convince them to let her cross over. So far asides from 'I'm madly in love with someone I shouldn't have let myself fall for and I desperately want to try and make them remember me so that we can live happily ever after' all she had was 'Hel-_lo, people are trying to kill me, I think we all know the smartest option is to shove me into the other realm for safety where they can't reach me' and even that needed some tweaking as far as the wording was concerned. She cursed her atoms; if only they were stronger then she wouldn't be having this problem. She would be allowed to cross over in a second. But __no, they __had to be young and weak. Typical. _

Just as she was about to launch into a full verbal attack on the atoms that made up her body her door slid open and Mr. Pea Green Hair walked in. 

"Ty, they're ready for us"

She nodded and straightened out her clothes. This was a hugely important meeting as far as her future was concerned and so she had handpicked her clothes carefully. She wanted them to show how well she fit in on the other side and at the same time she needed the clothes to be strong but not over intimidating. Eventually she had settled on something simple. A pair of hip hugging, wide legged jeans and a fitted white shirt. Simple, relatively smart and undeniably flattering in all the right places. She followed Bret out of her chamber. 

They arrived at the meeting room within a minute and were ushered inside by guards. The entire room and each person seated in it—all 7 of them—were checked for bugs and tracers and only once the guards were satisfied were they allowed to speak. Tyana started. 

"I want to cross over" she was blunt and her statement held no tact. She regretted saying it. 

"Ty" Bret berated her large mouth and took over in a more tactful way. "What Tyana means is we feel allowing her to cross over—although very hazardous—would be the most beneficial of all the options that face us because it is the only way we can be sure whoever is trying to kill her cannot reach her as only The Mission has access to the portal."

Tyana looked hopefully at the other 5 people in the room beside Bretski and herself but frowned when she noticed the person sitting at the head of the table was shaking his head. 

"Bretski, we appreciate your concern for your guided, as I'm sure Tyana does also, but we cannot permit her crossing over. The odds of her surviving without any damage that lasts less than 24 hours would be one in a million and that is a risk we cannot take, no matter if the other dimension is the safest place for her. She will have to stay in the vicinity"

Tyana shook her head, in clear disagreement, "No way, nuh-uh, I know—"

"TY!" Bret interrupted her. He gave her a look that told her to let him handle it. She held her chin high and allowed him to do so. "Sir, I understand what you are saying and believe me, I am just as concerned about the risks as you are but if anyone can beat those odds it is Tyana; after all, she _is a one in a million, one of a kind in fact."_

The man at the head of the table shook his head again and Tyana decided she most definitely did not like him. She wanted to punch his lights out. She restrained herself and listened. "Bretski, no matter how fond you are of her, calling her unique or unlike any other will not please the facts of science"

"And what exactly are the facts?" Bret asked, raising his voice a little, his facial expression becoming tense, his eyes hiding angered exasperation. Tyana wanted to jump up yelling 'Go Bretski, that's my bro' but stopped herself. She was becoming rather proud of her willpower all of a sudden. 

The man at the head of the table glared a little then straightened up to look more intimidating and answered, "If Tyana was to cross over to the other side it is most likely she will suffer tremendous harm that, if not fatal as it happens, could_ prove to be fatal as time draws on" _

"But it's my frailing life; surely I should have the say so over whether I get to put it on the line. Hell, you didn't seem to mind me risking my life to end The Witnessing, you even put me in charge of everyone else's lives by appointing me head of the practical mission. So how on earth is this different?" 

The man clearly didn't like being spoken to in such a way as Tyana had. He straightened even more so. It was then Tyana noticed that the other 4 people sitting either side of him hadn't said a word. _Wimps. "It is different because the risks you took were necessary before but now they are not. You do not need to cross over to stay safe; we can keep you just as well here, within the vicinity"_

"Well does insanity fall under the fit and well category 'cause I'm telling you if you even try to keep me here I will officially loose it, no doubt about it, I'll go ga-ga" Bret bit back a laugh at her last comment but the rest of the board didn't seem to be so amused. They stared at her grimly. 

"Tyana, say we did allow you to cross, and say by some miracle you survived without any harm, you would never be able to cross back over. And you are a vital member of our practical team. By allowing you to cross over we may as well just take you off contract and wipe your memory now because there is no way you can continue to work for us." 

Tyana shrugged and leant back into her chair in a very calm but smug fashion; "If I'm dead then I can't work for you either" Her statement was blunt. And true. She could see them buckling; she pushed forward, getting to her feet to pace and gesticulate as she put her points across "the way I see it, you have three choices. One, you let me back out into that cruel vindictive world and I die. Two, you keep me here under your watchful eyes and I go insane. Or worse, I go insane and I am tracked down and your vicinity is placed under a vicious attack, just like we did in the other world. Or three, you let me do what I feel is right and you take me to that portal, hook me up to whatever communicative devices and trackers you so wish and let me jump across. They all have their risks. And I know what I want. After all I've done can you really deny me of that?" she ended her speech with her hands on the table, looking each and every one of them in the eyes for a second as the silence descended. She could practically hear Bretski swelling with pride near her. She didn't feel like laughing though. 

One flustered guard suddenly burst into the room, "News update sir" he gushed, looking at the man at the other end of the table to Tyana. The man nodded, urging the young guard to speak. "News reported from the other dimension sir, several of the old operators have collected and have started it again" 

The man looked alarmed, "started what?"

"_It Sir, an under-ground operation to restart The Witnessing. They intend to reboot and restart it Sir" _

Every face in the room drained. Except Tyana's. She took her hands off the table and straightened to a stand with a grin, "Well. _Now try and tell me you don't want me to cross over" _

*****************************************************

**Bailey: You're back *yey* lol. Just so you know Ty's age is still the same as when she left Jeff's world. She's still 23. Oh wait, did I typo and write 24 somewhere then? Oops, anyway, yeah, she's 23; she can only age jumping over to a dimension that she wasn't born in. So the jump back to the 'bad' dimension didn't effect her age. Anyhow, yeah, I'm glad you like it. Hope you continue to read on, thank you for reviewing :o)**

**Shadow: Hey my evil genius mate, how's your cackle coming? Lol, *mwahahahaha* I'm really glad you liked those chapters, I wasn't sure if I really put the action across as well as I wanted to. Oh well, hope this chap was ok though, :o) thanks for reviewing. **


	9. 8 Just Jump

**Chapter 8 – Just jump**

Tyana watched everyone buzz around her 15 hours later as The Mission prepared for her jump across dimensions. She could see the huge portal swelling in size by the second, only having been opened by The Mission's scientists a few seconds earlier. Any minute now it would be ready for her to jump into. Just, jump. She felt excitement fizzling through her veins. People continued to swarm, making sure this was correct and that was stable. Tyana just stood by and watched them. She caught the flash of green out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Bretski making his way over to her. But he didn't get very far as every few feet someone would stop him and ask him something or check to see his 'permitted area' pass. Her eyes drifted back to the swirling blue portal. Someone wheeled her bags up to the bottom of the ramp which she would run and jump from. She knew inside was her clothes, money—and plenty of it—and so many devices and weapons that it would be almost impossible to pick that thing up. And it made her smile. It all reminded her so much of her first time through the portal. And it would be her last. Finally Bret reached Tyana and she could tell by the look on his face that he was as nervous as she was. She wondered if he had gotten her what she had asked of him. 

"How you feeling?" he quizzed, turning on his heel to look at the mass of flashing blue and then back to his turquoise haired friend. 

Tyana shrugged then wrung her hands together, "Nervous, excited, happy. And nervous some more"  

His responsive small was small but amused, "Me too actually. But I know you'll make it, I can feel it"

"Well I hope you're right, I really do" 

He smiled again and then leaned a little closer, the air around him changing to become very secretive. "I found what you asked for"

Her eyes lit up, "You did? That's terrific" 

"Yeah, don't get too excited though, you've still gotta be searched and make it through before you can see if it actually works." 

Tyana nodded, letting him knew she understood and then with a delicately hushed voice said "Thank you" 

"My pleasure, I just hope for your heart's sakes that it works" he smiled warmly at her and she returned it. Then her name was called. 

"That's me, I guess this is it" Bretski nodded firmly, and his face drained of all colour. Tyana nodded too but hugged him one last time. "I'll miss you. But I promise we'll talk all the time" he assured her. 

Tyana stepped back with a smile, "If I make it you mean"

"Oh you'll make it" And then his colour returned. Tyana walked away from him, feeling refreshed because someone believed in her so strongly. She passed by the Mission Head's who had come to see if she made it through and she knew they would have someone like Marrettabella waiting in the wings on the not-so-odd chance that she died before landing on the other earth. She hoped she would prove them wrong. She really, really did. Tyana paused at the end of the ramp, pondering over something clever or funny to say as a parting comment as she was checked over by guards and a doctor. Nothing sprung to mind so she just grabbed her bag, waited until the countdown got down to 1, turned to salute everyone watching her closely and then grinned before she took a deep breath and sprinted up the ramp. She jumped. 

Immediately Tyana smashed through the portal, the mass of swirling blue enclosing around, greeting her with fizzes and whooshes. She gritted her teeth and she was thrown about inside it, heading forward but wavering from side to side at the same time. The blue twirls turned to turquoise currents, zapping about her like an electrical storm, rumbling like thunder. Then it all turned red, flashing like blood before her, running and dripping onto her but rolling off as if her skin was waterproof. Next she was blinded by yellow as she suddenly felt she was being ripped in two and that's when the pain began. She traveled through the spectrum, clenching and unclenching her jaw to try and keep her brain off of the mind-blowing pain that was tearing her insides apart. She felt as if her entire body was being stabbed over and over from the inside and then when the prickles of pain disappeared all she could see was the blur of her body in her minds eye, being distorted and contorted in the portal. A mind-numbing migraine set in before she could catch a glimpse of the end of the tunnel. 

And then she dropped into the dimension, slamming onto the concrete floor of a street of all places. She curled into the foetal position in pure agony as she could hear people rushing towards her calling for help over the sound of the blood rushing in her ears. And all she could think through the side-splitting pain before she blacked out was that she was alive. 

*** 

Jeff rinsed out the new dye from his hair, then flipped his head up from the shower in the changing rooms and dried his hair on a towel. His purple, green and turquoise hair rubbed dry on the towel, leaving behind some of the dye, and then he strolled into the main changing room to see his brother and Amy sitting about talking about their match for that evening. Jeff wasn't allowed to wrestle because of his unexplained black out yesterday evening even though the doctor had given him the all clear and instead he was supposed to just escort his brother and their friend to the ring. He hated that. There was nothing wrong with him, he should have been allowed in that ring that night_. Sure, I had some stupid headache, and yeah, I guess it was strange that I had all those visions…and fine, I get it, I fainted, but still, the doctor said I'm all good to go for chrissakes. Why's everyone so damn over protective?  _

He sighed. Matt and Amy both looked up as if he had screamed and gazed at him with a worried look. 

"What?"

Amy began to fidget with the sleeve of her shirt, avoiding his question and then Matt tried his best to look unconcerned but it really didn't work. 

"What? Look, I'm not in the mood, would you just tell me already?"

Matt sighed, obviously now intending to get whatever it was they wanted to say out and over with. He gushed, "We don't think you should even escort us tonight" Amy nodded in agreement. 

"_Excuse me?"_

"Come on Jeff, what if it happens again? What if you black out down by the ring, huh?"

"I won't"

"You don't know that"

"But I do"

"Jeff, you don't, stop being stubborn. You can't possibly know what will happen and that's why we think you should stay back here tonight" 

"Look guys I get what you're saying and I appreciate it but—" He wobbled about, overwhelmed with dizziness. Both of his friends shot to his side. 

"Jeff, are you ok?" Amy inquired worriedly. 

He shook it off, "Yeah, I'm fin—" he wobbled again, almost falling over. 

"Amy, go get some help, he's gonna black out again" Matt ordered, supporting his brother, trying to help him to the bench so he could sit down. 

"I don't need he—Shittttttt" He doubled over, clutching at his stomach, feeling as if someone was coiling his intestines round a pencil and then trying to rip it out from his body. Jeff could barely hear his brother's cries of worry through his own yells of agony. And then his head split, much like it had last night. He straightened up, clutching his head, his eyes and jaws clenched. And suddenly his body jolted forward and all he heard before he blacked out was, "… hear me?"

**********************************************

**Shadow: She jumped, ahhhhh! Hmm, and what is this mystery that Bret is talking about, ey? *grins* I know, I know! Lol. Yeah, my laugh is all good, I'm happy the cackle is coming along nicely. Hope this chap was ok :o) thanks for reviewing girl **


	10. 9 Recover

**Chapter 9 - Recover**

Tyana woke up in hospital and sighed. She had been hoping she hadn't been taken to one of these god awful disinfectant-smelling, white-wall-painted places. But she had been. Well at least she knew one thing; the people of this dimension were more caring and compassionate than those in the dimension she had come from. She smiled; the dimension she would never have to return to. Inhaling deeply she took a look around to find she was in a ward full of women. But she stood out like a sore thumb with her bright turquoise hair; _yeah, sore is about right. She clambered out of bed, feeling tender all over but otherwise feeling fine. She was fine. And then she felt overjoyed. She was alive and she felt fine. Maybe she was one in a million after all; one of a kind even. She tried to find her clothes and found them in a cabinet by the bed. Tyana turned back to look at the other women on the ward and realized that if they weren't sleeping then they were watching her curiously. _

Smiling she gave them a small wave and then pulled the curtain closed behind her and got dressed. She left the ghastly hospital gown on her bed and then grabbed her bag from out of the cabinet and began to leave.

"Say, honey, I don't think you're supposed to go home until they dismiss you" a large brunette woman said from the bed next to hers. She paused in her tracks, turning back with a smile and tilted her head to the side. 

"How do you know they haven't dismissed me?"

"Because I've been awake since they brought you in yesterday and there ain't no way they will dismiss you yet. If I were you I'd get changed, get back in that bed and be patient like everyone else; you need to recover."

Tyana found it all humorous. Yes, she was sore but she had fought in worse condition than this. And she knew she was fit to leave.  "Recover, huh?" she grinned and dropped her stuff by the door. Shrugging her shoulders she loosened up her neck and then flipped gracefully backwards until she had covered the entire length of her ward's floor. She landed in a perfect dismount and then smiled at the women with a slack jaw. "I think I'm recovered thanks, but thanks for the concern, it's much appreciated" She winked at the woman as she passed by her bed, stealing one of her grapes as she did so then nonchalantly picked up her bag from the doorway and left. She was surprised that no one tried to stop her as she wandered from the building. But then again, who could stop her from getting what she wanted?  

She got a cab and asked for the nearest hotel. 

***

"Maybe it's your blood sugar level, maybe that's why you keep passing out" Amy pondered out loud. She reached into her bag and threw a chocolate bar at Jeff. He only just managed to catch it in the cramped conditions they were driving in. It was Matt and Amy up front with Jay, Adam, Jeff and Chris in the back. He was, needless to say, rather squashed. 

"No, that's not it Aimz, the doctor would have picked up on that, but you heard what she said, they can't find any reason" Matt countered, taking a corner perfectly. 

Amy nodded, "I guess so" She turned around in her seat so she could see the guys in the back better, "Can I have my chocolate back then?"

Jeff grinned and took a huge chunk out of it. Amy glared at him, "Sure, here ya go" he offered it back to her. She rolled her eyes and told him to keep it then turned back in her seat but not before mumbling that if the men kept stealing the women's chocolate then there would be hell to pay. All the men in the vehicle groaned, knowing it was true.  

"So how you feeling right now then man?" Adam asked, looking over Jay and Chris so he could look at Jeff.

The rainbow shrugged, "Same old, same old—this chocolate is good though" he continued to munch on it. 

Matt sighed, "Ya know maybe we should talk to Vince about it again. I mean it comes on so suddenly that there is no way you can do anything in the ring. And signing's would be equally as awful if you passed out at one of them. Maybe you should ask for time off until you can find out what it is and get treatment" Always the worried big brother. 

"I know what it is" Jeff shrugged and finished off the candy bar. 

"You do? What?" Amy shrieked, eager to know what was wrong with her friend. 

Jeff just shrugged again and answered with the only explanation he could think of. "It's that chick"

"The one you've been dreaming about?" 

"Yeah. I mean I've had two different types of reoccurring dreams about her so far and I still don't even know who she is. Then the first time I blacked out I had like these visions of her in trouble."

"But why would having dreams about some chick you've never met give you migraines and knock you out?" Jay thought aloud. 

Jeff just shrugged, "That's what I'd like to know" 

*** 

Tyana burst into her hotel room and immediately pulled a communicator out of her backpack and switched it on. She typed in her code and then Bret lit up on her screen. 

"Tyana, you made it!" 

She beamed widely and nodded, "I made it Bret, and I can see and hear and touch and everything, I think I'm ok, I'm really ok" 

"Oh that is such a relief, I've been so worried about you, thank goodness" She laughed at his content sigh and then got a dramatic déjà vu of standing in a hotel room, talking to him like this. Bret was looking at her now, visually checking her over. He seemed satisfied. 

"Right, so you're ok, that's great. But aren't you in any pain?" he seemed confused. Anyone else would have died crossing over twice. She however seemed undamaged. It was nothing short of a miracle. But that was Tyana for you. 

"Yeah, I'm a little sore and I think I pulled a stomach muscle but otherwise I'm good. They must have given me something in the hospital"

"You went to hospital?" 

"Well, yeah, you see I was dropped in, like, a street and so all these strangers gathered round 'cause I was in so much pain. I blacked out so I don't really know what happened but they must have called for an ambulance because I woke up in a ward"

"I see, well, maybe your location was a blessing in disguise too. It does seem as if the doctors fixed you up well."

Tyana nodded with a smile, "So, I guess now that I'm fine it's back down to business as usual"

"Of course, yes," Bret shook himself from his over the moon state and Tyana watched him as he began to type and press various buttons. She could see the glow of screen's lighting up reflecting on his face. "Ok, right, let's get started"


	11. 10 Shadow

**Chapter 10 – Shadow **

Tyana leant back into her chair and nibbled her lip as she tried to take in what Bretski had said. It had been 4 days since she had arrived in this realm and after the first day had been spent resting to make sure Ty was on absolute top form the following three days had been spent researching, fitting together pieces of the puzzle and tailing a few suspected members of the team who were trying to re-launch The Witnessing. Tyana sighed, nodded her head and then leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees. 

"Ok, now, let me get this straight. The chips that were collected and used to shut down The Witnessing the first time round are, like, not re-useable. And so all 45 have to be re-made exactly." Bretski was nodding along, showing her she was correct in what she was saying, "Each chip take 3 days to put together due to its size and complexity and they only have 5 people who know how to make these chips." Bret's head continued to bop, "That means we have, um, 27 days to make sure we stop all of the chips from being made and also make sure the people making them can't do so again, right?"

Bret nodded firmly, "Correct"

"Ok, one question?"

"Shoot"

"Do we have any leads as to where these people are?"  

"Not a one" 

"Frail" Tyana leant back in her chair again and began to nibble on her lip once more as she thought over it. She could hear Bret tapping away on one of his many computer's but she pushed the noise aside and concentrated, trying to think of ways to find out all the information they needed, trying to think of a plan of action. Bret watched her for a moment while he waited for his latest information update to load and was soundly so proud of how committed and mature she was. It was true that since she had rejoined this realm she had only aged two months, a huge contrast to the 7 years she aged the first time she crossed dimensions, but watching her sitting there like that, so focused and so determined he was just proud of her on the whole. He hadn't known what he was thinking when he had expected her to be totally preoccupied with Jeff but he now knew he had totally under estimated her. Tyana knew that she needed to concentrate now, this mission couldn't wait, but Jeff could, at least for a while. And he was proud. The bleeping of his computer that told him the update was now viewable snapped him out of his thoughts and he clicked on the links to open up each information file. 

"Ok, we have updates" he started, pulling Tyana's concentration away from her thoughts and back to the present. 

"Fill me in" she commanded, listening intently. 

"Well, first of all we seem to have some information on the person running the whole scheme" 

"Spill"

"His name is Ray Jackson, but he goes by the name of R.J—how typical. Anyhow, his great grandfather was the man who discovered that there was two realms, and his great grandfather as well as his grandfather were both on the original team who set up the witnessing, therefore making him saturated by it all as soon as he was born. His father continued at a very high position in the operation, therefore making it easier for him to ride to the top as well, on his coat tails I suppose. His father retired several years ago and R.J's been very high up ever since after taking his father's place. Now because we shut The Witnessing down, R.J must have decided he owed it to himself and his family to start it back up, heading up the under-ground mission to re-launch it."

"So it's kind of a pride thing for him"

"Yes, I suppose it is" 

"I guess I'll have to take him down a peg or two" Tyana said grinning. Bret rolled his eyes and continued filling her in on what else he knew. R.J was known to spend most of his time in his favourite hotel suite in some joint up town—not exactly hard done by it seemed—and when he wasn't inside with the company of his co-criminals and a certain woman he apparently always had by his side, he was down town hanging out in a certain sleazy club that Tyana had a feeling she would be visiting _real soon. "Right, ok, I'm off then" Tyana decided, getting up and grabbing her bag. _

"What do you mean you're off? Where are you going?" 

Tyana chuckled, "Bret, I'm starving, and room service is atrociously expensive here. I'm gonna go grab something to eat. I'll try to think about what we should do next while I'm stuffing my face, ok?" 

"Oh" he chuckled, "Yes, fine, we'll speak later"

She blew a kiss towards the communicator with a laugh then said goodbye and switched it off. She slipped it in to one of the drawers of the dresser then locked up and headed towards the lift. She hopped inside and waited for the doors to close as she began to hum. 

*** 

Jeff hurried Matt along, "Come on man, I'm so hungry, get a move on" he whined, banging on the bathroom door. Amy laughed at him. 

"Why don't we just order in?" she suggested, knowing that Matt would be a while longer. 

"No, I'm sick of this hotel room, I've been stuck in it all day, thanks to you two persuading Vince that I should be made to rest, I wanna eat out" Jeff moaned, slumping back onto his bed. Two days ago Matt and Amy had gone to Vince in pure worry over Jeff's strange black out incidents and although it hadn't happened since, Vince had agreed that it was best for Jeff to take a little time off either until the doctors knew what was wrong or until these attacks stopped getting to him. The thing was that Jeff didn't usually mind being given some time to rest and think and wonder and write but all he had been able to do for the past two days was think of that _woman who plagued his dreams every time he closed his eyes. He felt as if all he saw was blurred turquoise and it was slowly eating away at him, not knowing who she was. _

"Ok, ok, I'll be two seconds" Matt called back through the door but Jeff didn't register it; his mind had slipped back over the curves of that unknown beauty. Something inside told him he should know her, something told him part of him did, he just couldn't figure out_ how. Had they met some when? Maybe they knew one another when they were children? No, that couldn't be right; this woman was grown, most definitely grown. There was nothing child-like about her. So how had he known her? He continued to ponder it.  _

Amy watched her friend curiously; his brow creased, folded, and wondered what it was he was suddenly so engrossed in. She followed his line of sight but it was clear that it led to the middle of no where and he was caught up in his own thoughts, whatever they may be. 

"Jeff?" 

He snapped out of it, "Hmm, yes, what?" he looked momentarily dazed as he forced his eyes to meet hers, "Sorry, did you say something?"

"Er, yeah, what were you thinking about?" 

"Uh, nothing. Nothing interesting." He smiled. Amy didn't it by it, but she let it go anyway. Finally Matt strolled out of the bathroom, his hair still damp from his shower. 

"Ok, let's go" They all grabbed a jacket then ambled out of the hotel room, locking it as they went and headed down the hall for the elevators. One snapped closed just as they turned the corner. They pressed the button and waited for the next one. When they got to the lobby they turned in their keys and went to leave but Adam and Jay came bounding out of the door that led to the stairs, calling for them to wait up. Team xtreme did so but not before Jeff caught a glimpse of turquoise strolling out of the lobby onto the street. He knew the turquoise. But he shook his head, telling himself it couldn't be the woman that was always so mysteriously on his mind. 

"God, maybe I _do need a few days off" He turned back to the others and dismissed it. _

***

Having grabbed herself a take away Mickey D's Tyana stepped out onto the street and began to wandered down the darkening sidewalks as she pulled her bag off her back and slipped her food into it. The hotel she was staying at was only a 10 minutes walk away, at most, so she didn't bothered rushing herself as the night around her continued to darken. The street was surprisingly void of any signs of life, it was even quiet as she walked along, glad she wasn't wearing heels because the click, click, click of them on the pavement in the quietness annoyed her. She continued along, rather indifferent to the time of day and the dimensions she was in because her thoughts had drifted upon a face known well to her mind, and more importantly her heart. Her mind swirled around the person she thought of, making her smile, but her short lived thoughtful bliss was interrupted when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, telling her something was wrong. Tyana continued down the street, as if she hadn't felt it, but every single one of her senses were more alive than ever now as she sought the darkness around her for the cause of her alarm. Her ears practically pricked up when she became aware of a very soft tapping of shoes on the sidewalk behind her, not too close but not far enough off for comfort. She slowed a little deliberately, finding that as she suspected the footfalls she was listened so tentatively to slowed also and then she sped up, finding once more they matched her pace. 

There was no doubt about it, she was being followed. 

Tyana carried on, trying her best to seem oblivious to her unwanted company, noting that there was a corner she had to take very soon. Her mind immediately slipped into action mode and told her slip around the corner with casual nonchalance, as it was the way back to the hotel, and then ambush whoever it was that was following her. She decided that was exactly what she would do and so turned the corner as she would without company but instead of pausing she found herself connecting with something solid and strong, forcing her to stumble back a few steps, back into the street. Tyana stared into the shadows of that corner, knowing she had run into a person, a person who hadn't been there on the off chance, a person who had been waiting. Slowly they moved forward, they facial features extruding gradually from the depths of the darkness they had hidden in and as they continued to walk further onto the sidewalk, illuminated by the street lamps, she realized she knew this person. It was the man who had tried to attack her in her apartment back in the other dimension. So she knew this was most definitely going to be an attempt on her knife. She slipped her hand round the back of her subtly, watching the twisted grin on the man's face turn up. 

"We meet again" he concluded happily, unaware that Tyana was unstrapping a knife from a small compartment on the back of her bag. It slipped down her arm and she slid it into her sleeve and careful and subtly brought her arm back to beside her hip, gripping cautiously onto the knife beneath her sleeve. 

"So we do, don't give up easily. First the street, then my apartment, you're a very determined" she commented, hoping to distract him for long enough to take in her surroundings and him to work this battle to her advantage. But his sick smile broadened. 

"I never tried to kill you in the street" he revealed, a tad too happy about that fact for Tyana's liking. 

"Then who did?" 

"I did" a voice said smugly from Tyana's left. Tyana looked over at the man who had made his presence known but didn't let her eyes leave the larger man in front of her for too long. She reassessed the situation. Two, large, strong men, on one strong but possibly delicate woman. The odds were against her. But it got worse. 

"And now I just feel so left out; what with me being the only one who never got a stab at you before you ran away" another voice, this time from her right. Make that three on one.

"I can't help but notice the only way you think you can kill me is to manipulate the odds" Tyana sneered confidently, still clutching her pathetic little back up knife. If she could just distract them for long enough to grab her laser gun from her bag then she could high tail it out of there. But that wasn't gonna happen, she knew it. The only way she could get that gun was it she knocked them down for long enough to grab it, do some damage and then run. The street was deserted hopelessly, that much she knew, and she wasn't sure whether that was good or bad. Bad, probably, because no one could hear her screams. Not that she would allow herself to cower in such a way. She slipped the bag off her back and dropped it to the floor behind her. And then they rushed her. 

Tyana jumped high into the air, flipping head over heels backwards so that she landed behind the clutter of men as they collided with one another. They were only a little disoriented so Tyana took full advantage and charged them while they were a little confused. She ran back towards them and kicked the closest one with such a force that he went shooting backwards, landing in a heap on the sidewalk several yards away. The other two were angered by it but Tyana flipped backwards, making them rushed forwards, but then half flipped again so that she was standing on her hands then she kicked back towards them with everything she had, knocking them both down but landing rather ungracefully on top of them also. She jumped to her feet, ready to draw her gun, but was grabbed from behind. It was at that point she realized the first man she had kicked had recovered and gone straight for her. He had an arm snaked tightly around her throat and that it when she felt him trying to apply the pressure, trying to cut off her air. In a panic she tried to pull her knife out so she could stab him and run but it got caught in the fabric of her sleeve and toppled to the floor with a clatter of taunting pings. The pressure on her throat increased as he laughed at her misfortune. 

"Tell the angels hi from Luday when you get there sweetheart" and everything began to go hazy in front of her.

"Well the devil sure as hell is gonna be glad to see you—no pun intended" who had said that? Tyana could barely see but she could distinguish voices and she knew that did not belong to one of her attackers. For one, it was female. And then she was cut loose from the deadening grip and Tyana dropped to the floor, gasping for air as the sounds of punches ad kicks and grunts filled the air behind her. By the time her vision had cleared and she was trying to get to her knees she could hear the angered cries of the other men who were back on their feet and apparently barreling past her towards her knight in shining armor. Tyana finally staggered to her feet but wavered as she heard the sounds of a man falling to the floor. That meant there was one still standing. Whether or not the others were alive, that she could not tell. 

Tyana fell back to her knees again and one finally thud echoed around her and another thump implied the crashing of the man to the pavement. Or, what she hoped was the man. Tyana knew it must have been her enemy that had fallen when soft hands closed around her upper arms and she was hefted to her feet. A blur of pink. Tyana blinked repeatedly, trying to clear her dusty vision, and then stared, full of confusion, at the pink haired woman in front of her. 

"Tyana Maleé, right?" the soft stranger asked, wrapping one of Tyana's arms around her strong shoulders and wrapping one of her own hands around the turquoise girls waist. Tyana nodded. "I'm Shadow, Bretski and the mission sent me when they realized your assassins had jumped through to this realm." She giggled a little as she moved Tyana slowly across the street to collect her bag. "I suppose I'm sort of your body guard—as well as your partner in crime" The pink haired woman stooped down in front of Tyana and hefted up her bag, slipping it onto her own back instead of Tyana's and then helped Tyana walk again. "Come on; let's go get you back to the hotel, I think you need to sleep"

Tyana nodded mutely and hobbled off with the friendly stranger, thinking in disorientation as she went, _cute hair, nice shade of pink._

**************************************

***A/N* sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days. I went to a party and got almost no sleep so I was too tired Sunday then yesterday I had to go into college to enroll and today I had to go into college to do my key skills assessment but all is well now. So here's two chapters to make up for the lack of them over the pass few days and also to make up for the fact that I may not be able to update tomorrow morning because the vet is coming at 8 and I have tons to do before he gets here. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapters.**

**Shadow: ahh, the mystery, well, you'll just have to wait to find out what he's talking about, won't you? *laughs evilly* mwahahahahhaha! Glad you liked the chapter, now I must go update my other stories before I officially collapse and fall into a deep, deep sleep, lol. Speak soon. **


	12. 11 Unknown Memories

**Chapter 11 – Unknown Memories**

As soon as they got back to Tyana's hotel Shadow ushered her up to her room and helped Tyana, who looked rather shaken and a little sore, lay down on then bed before she got her own communicator out of her back pocket and smiled down at her guider. The red haired, tan skinned and blue eyed woman named Quande stared back up at her from the screen and sighed with relief when she noted that her Guided was ok. They spoke in hushed tones for several minutes, with Shadow talking over what had only just happened and Quande checking her Guided's statistics on one of her many technical devices. Finally Shadow left Quande to work with the information she had given her about the men that had attacked Tyana, as well as informing her that one claimed his name with Luday, and set the communicator on to the dresser. The girl with bright pink hair turned and looked down at the woman who laid back on the bed, her hands clamped over her eyes as she sighed, her chest rising and falling with a regular rhythm as she tried to take in what had just happened. Shadow crossed the room and perched on the side of the bed, causing Tyana to pull her hands away from her eyes and open them. 

Shadow smiled, "How're you feeling?" She asked tentatively as she set studied the turquoise beauty. Tyana shifted a little on the bed, uncomfortable at having been shown so much attention by someone who wasn't paid to do so. Or someone who wasn't Jeff. 

"Er, good, thanks, I've just got some bruises coming I think" she answered, sitting up properly as she smiled in appreciation. It was obvious that this woman was in fact from The Mission and wasn't just some undercover assassin. So Tyana trusted her and let herself relax, her only tension being in that she knew people were in this realm—where she was supposed to be safe—trying to kill her. At least it seemed Shadow would be around to help protect her now though. "Thanks for saving my butt back there though; I would have really been dead meat if you hadn't shown up"

Shadow just shrugged as if it was all in a day's work and smiled, "Hey, us Mission Chicks have to stick together, think nothing of it." 

"Um, so, are you ok?" Tyana asked sweetly, only then realizing that maybe in saving her, Shadow had gotten hurt. 

But the woman nodded, "Fine thank you, although I did break a nail" she giggled and stared at her nails. Tyana took the brief opportunity to observe the person that she would apparently be spending some time with. 

The girl had a full head of bright pink hair and her skin was a soft white. As far as her build went, it was semi-athletic. She was thin without being skinny and her shoulders were strong. Her thighs had that same muscular toning as Tyana's and her body seemed to be in an overall good condition, with nice little curves to her hips and chest. Her eyes were brown; a strange combination with such vibrant hair, and Tyana only then noticed that she had a pair of sunglasses pushed up onto her head. She wasn't sure whether they were prescription or fashion or some sort of new agent product designed by The Mission but no matter what reason they were perched there for, they were slightly rounded—the perfect shape for her face—and were a slick simple black. She was most definitely attractive. Tyana began to wonder whether she, much like herself, had aged when she jumped over. 

"Shadow, did you, uh, age when you crossed?" Shadow looked up from her nails and then titled her head. 

"Ya know, I never thought to ask."

"Er, couldn't you tell just by looking in a reflective panel?" Tyana quizzed, remembering how she had first discovered her premature aging.   

Shadow laughed a little and shook her head, "No, I looked like this before I jumped; so I guess I couldn't have aged more than a few months or so then."

Tyana nodded in agreement, "No, I guess not" her voice was small and contemplative as she began to wonder what would have happened if _she had aged only a few months the first time she had jumped. She was sure she would have never been able to handle a lot of the things that had happened to her. Her intelligence would have been only a little less, her mentality lower, her body less mature and toned, and god knew she probably would have been an emotional wreck under all the pressure. But most importantly Jeff would have never noticed her; she was glad she aged the way she did. He was too important to her to feel otherwise.  _

"As we're doing question an answer time then, do you mind if I quiz you on some stuff? You see, you've kinda become this huge celebrity amongst the other people in The Mission and I was wondering whether some of the stuff I was told is true" 

Tyana smiled and nodded, "Sure, ask away" She chose to ignore the fact that she had been described as a celebrity. Although it was nice to think that other people had gotten to know her for all she had been through for the sake of The Mission. 

"Ok, but if you don't want to answer it then obviously, don't, I'm totally cool with keeping things personal" Shadow put out there as she shifted onto the bed so that her legs were crossed and she was sitting in front of Tyana who had moved her legs to the same position. 

Tyana laughed, her nerves and shock from early in the evening melting away, "What exactly have you people been saying about me then?" And they began to gossip as if they had known each other for years. 

*** 

Meanwhile Jeff ambled into his hotel room and collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. It wasn't particularly late but he had only minutes ago come over rather tired. Sighing, he rested his hands under his neck, locking them behind his head, and looked right up at the blank white ceiling. It had been so long since his nightmares had started that he felt they needed to be resolved now. It was impossible to go through the day without thinking about the dreams, or more specifically the girl in them, at least every minute. Her face always seemed to be lurking somewhere in the back of his mind, her voice echoing from somewhere inside his body. And he couldn't figure out for the life of him how or why he knew her. Or why she wanted him to know her so badly that she turned up whenever he rested his eyes. 

And so Jeff closed his eyes, just to see if she would appear, just to see if he could work out the reasons behind it all. Slowly his mind began to wander across the dreams and thoughts and ponderings concerning the beautiful girl that he could not recall from his past. Her face flashed through his mind eye. And then gradually visions of her he had never seen before began to seep through. His brow furrowed as he watched them unfold before him. 

_The girl. Jeff's brow creased into deeper lines as images of her in a lift with himself appeared. __And then she was in amongst a crowd. Then she was in front of a mirror, looking herself up and down as he stood by her. Suddenly the visions began to speed up. All he could see was the girl__. Parking lot. Club. Hotel room. Injured. The visions continued in fast forward and at such a speed that Jeff could no longer register what each vision held. He wasn't aware that he was viewing his heart's memories. He had no idea that all of this had happened to him, to her also. And then words began to dart around inside his brain. _

_Dimension. _

_Witnessed.___

_Love. _

_Turquoise. _

_Card. _

_Realm. _

He blacked out just before he saw her name.   

*******************************************

***A/N* Oops, I meant to post this chapter yesterday. Oh well, I didn't want to; I had trouble writing it because I was unhappy with everything that came out. This has to be at least the fourth re-write. And I'm still not happy-go-lucky with it but it will do, lol.**

**Shadow: thanks for reviewing hun, you're the only one that does these days, lol. Yep, pink hair, that's you alright. *sings 1000 miles* I'll talk to you soon girl, I gotta jet *waves and runs off* **


	13. 12 Collisions

**Chapter 12 – Collisions **

Shadow looked herself over in the mirror of the new two-bed room she and Tyana had moved into within the hotel and laughed. "I look ridiculous" she called, still chuckling, "come out, I wanna see how you look" 

Tyana called back through the bathroom door, "I'll be two seconds, these stockings are a nightmare" 

Shadow chuckled at her new friend and then stared at her reflection for a while longer as she took herself in. Her legs were practically bare in a short black mini skirt with slits up each side but her navel was covered in a strapped, red, low cut top. She had a long black jacket to go on over the top but at this point in time it was lying lazily on her bed, where her thin black heels also lay. The pink haired beauty ambled back over to her bed and perched on it as she pulled on the heels, buckling them up delicately. Satisfied that she looked attractive enough she sat patiently waiting for Tyana to enter. A minute later Tyana threw one slender leg out of the bathroom room, kicking it and then leaning it up against the wall, causing Shadow to laugh as she watched the girl appear limb by limb. They both burst out laughing when Tyana finally appeared fully in front of the pink girl and ground her behind to the floor and back up. 

"Think I'm gonna get him hot and bothered?" she asked, making Shadow laugh again. 

"Most definitely. How's about me? Am I dressed the part?"  Shadow got to her feet and struck a pose, grinning. Tyana giggled and nodded, 

"You bet, we're gonna pull this off no problem!" Tyana gushed confidently as she pulled on a pair of black stilettos that matched the black wig she was wearing for sakes of misled identification. She noticed Shadow had forgotten her wig and so threw a blonde one at her, making the woman groan when she realized she'd have to go bleach for the evening. Shadow pulled it on while Tyana gazed quickly into the mirror. A turquoise mid-thigh skirt with two disgracefully large slits—in case they got into trouble and she needed to kick someone—and a black top that plunged right down to below her breasts in a triangle neckline. Topped off with shiny black stockings and she looked the perfect vision of sex on legs—without class. 

Tyana laughed at her reflection then turned to Shadow shaking her head, "I can't believe men actually go for this shit."

Shadow agreed, "I know, I mean, come off it, we look like they say suck and we say how h—"

"—Shadow!" Tyana shrieked, laughing at the vulgarity of what she was about to say. 

Shadow just grinned and shrugged, "Oh you know that's what he'll be thinking" Laughing, Tyana shook her head at the girl that was now blonde and grabbed the smallest communicator she had. She slipped it into the hand bag she had purchased especially for this mission and then closed the secret apartment in which she hid it in. Then she slipped in another device that she and Shadow had made that day; with the instructions of their Guiders. They were ready to leave. 

"Ok, let's go" Tyana suggested, taking the lead in leaving the room. Shadow followed her closely, feeling the discomfort of having a knife tapped to her stomach carefully below her top. She sucked it up; what was a bit of discomfort for safety, ey? The girls hopped into the elevator then rode down in silence, thinking about what they had been instructed to do by both of their Guiders. They walked out into the lobby with unmistakable confidence in both of their strides and then headed to the desk to hand over their keys for the night, so not to lose them while they were out on this daily task. Just as they turned to leave the hotel Shadow slammed into a hard, toned chest. She didn't stumble back though, even though she was wearing a pair of atrociously high heels, and instead the person she slammed into reached out to make sure she didn't stagger backwards. 

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going" the person in front of her apologized sweetly. 

Shadow dismissed it with the wave of her hand, looking the tall, dark and handsome stranger up and down. She knew who this man was; it was hard not to when for so long he and his brother had been loved fanatically in her home realm while The Witnessing had been up and running. Matt Hardy. Under normal circumstances she would have stayed to flirt, being that flirting was in her nature, but she had somewhere to go and someone to see so she just accepted his apology and then glanced over her shoulder to look for Tyana who was bending over, re-buckling her stilettos. It was then that she noticed another familiar figure near by, standing a little ways away from Tyana in fact; staring intently as if he thought he knew her but couldn't place her face. Jeff Hardy. Now was not the time she decided, knowing Tyana had had a slight thing with the man that was studying her. So she called "Come on, we gotta go" Tyana looked up at the remark and her mouth dropped slack at the sight of Matt. Luckily Shadow pulled her out of the hotel before she could even notice her love standing just behind her. 

"What did you do that for? If Matt's here then Jeff must be" Tyana asked, trying to find her pace as Shadow continued to pull her down the dark streets away from the hotel. 

"Ty, we don't have time. I'm sorry but if you want to re-kindle anything then it's to be done later. As of now, we are on a mission" She let go of the black-wigged girl's arm and continued to walk on with purpose in her stride. Tyana silently agreed and then her stride took up the same form as her friend's as they sauntered down the pavement with a clear destination in mind. They were on their way. 

***

Jeff watched the girl with black hair get dragged out of the hotel with a creased brow. He swore he knew her, her body seemed so familiar. But where could he have met someone like that? She dressed so provocatively, walked so confidently. He voiced his concerns to his brother who was standing a few paces in front of him, watching the girls disappear also. 

"Is it me or do I know the chick with the dark hair?" 

Matt looked away from the now swinging hotel doors and at his brother who looked serious, "It's you." He dismissed his brother's curious glances back at the door as strange behavior, possibly linked to his oddly unexplained ill-health, and walked over to the desk to hand in his keys for the night. 

***

Tyana and Shadow straightened out their skirts and then looked up at the house in front of them. 

"You're certain this is the place?" Shadow whispered to Tyana who had now taken back all control since she had forced her mind off the subject of Jeff. 

"This is the address Bret gave us. This is the place alright. Now come on, before R.J shows up" Tyana knocked on the door and waited for the answer. It creaked open a crack to reveal eyes peeking at them. Then, obviously intrigued by what they saw, the person behind the wooden door opened it wider and there in front of the women stood a tall, blonde man of an acceptable age, around 30. Tyana smiled with charm and batted her eyelashes, 

"Clem Rogers I presume?" 

He looked her up and down and then did the same with Shadow, and with a smile answered her, "Who're you?"

"Felicia Griffin, R.J sent us"

"He never told me he was sending anyone over"

"It's an emergency; he didn't have time to contact you, had some business to see to; it seems someone betrayed this mission to the 'good' scum from the other side. He sent us to take care of some new details he came across" 

Clem seemed to be thinking it over, unsure as to whether the women were genuine. After all he had never before seen or heard of a Felicia Griffin, of whom he would be sure to know if she was indeed tied up with R.J in some way or another. But she seemed to know her stuff. He tested her. "Who was the traitor?" If she got the name of the most suspicious person of the group wrong then he would know she wasn't on his side. And not only would Felicia, but her little silent friend too, would be dead in a second. 

The woman of black hair smiled smugly, "Jackson Flail. But you have to admit, we've know he's a dodgy bastard ever since it was decided to re-vamp our little project" Clem looked at her calmly, all traces of suspicion gone as it was apparent she was in fact one of them. "You gonna invite us in or what?" 

He opened the door dutifully and then watched both girls sway inside, checking out the view as they went. If they were involved with R.J then they were nothing but forbidden fruit; but he always found that things you weren't supposed to have gave you such a thrill. He grinned at them and closed the door behind them all "Who's the chick without the voice then?"  

Shadow snorted a little and took up a very confident and demanding position, "Lilly fields, no joke, laugh and I'll break your face." She glared. 

He only smiled, "Cute, fiery, I like that" Shadow, or Lilly as she was now known, glared. Clem decided Felicia was far easier to deal with; less attitude. So he turned to her and addressed his inquiries only to her. "So what's this emergency all about? I thought everything was going smoothly"  He gestured for them to follow him into the lounge and they did so casually while subtly taking a good look around to keep an eye out for any possible volts, desk or cubby holes in which there could be documents of vital information. 

"Like I said, Jackson squealed on the project. So we're checking out all our other, well, members. That and I got a vital message to rely."

"Which is?" he settled on a leather couch and threw his arms back across it, stretched out and relaxed. 

Felicia/Tyana snorted, "No way, first, we double check your ass, then, and only then, do you get information" 

"Sounds fair. How're you gonna check me though?" Both girls broke into a grin. 

"I need to see your license. Then we quiz you. Then…well" Tyana's grin broadened, making him shudder in anticipated pleasure when she lowered her voice so that it was husky, "you'll just have to wait and see" 

"Right, no problem" He got up and walked over to a painting. He stuck two fingers behind it and probed about until he pulled out a small card and a document. He crossed back over the room and handed them to Tyana, only then realizing Shadow was glancing at him with shining eyes, biting her lip. He could hardly blame her, he was frailing gorgeous; and he knew it. He stared back at the pretty blonde for a moment, watching her closely as she licked her lips while she drank him in, unaware that Tyana was committing every detail of his license to memory. When she was done she handed it back to him with a smile, 

"All fine there. Show me your documentation,"

"What documentation?"

"For the mission, as well as computer info, I need to check nothing has been copied" 

"How can you tell?"

She grinned, "It's a skill, that's why I'm here. Come on, I don't got all night, I still got other people to check ya know" 

He nodded and led her into the study where all the info was kept and then removed papers and disks from a volt. Tyana took the disks from him and got out a device from her handbag. "What's that?" he asked protectively as she began to run it over the disks, copying their contents. She was beginning to get sick of all his damn questions. If he was gonna keep getting worried about who they were then he shouldn't have let them in to begin with. It was too damn late now. 

"Its new technology, checks to see if it's been copied or downloaded more than the permitted amount of times" she lied, noticing that Shadow was smiling from behind him at how stupid this man was. She did the same to the documents. He seemed satisfied that the device was doing what she said it was. Loser. 

They had all the information they wanted so Tyana told him she was satisfied that he was in the project for good and told 'Lilly' that they should move on to the next member on the list. Clem followed them to the door, asking if they couldn't stay awhile, obviously enjoying their company—or more so their outfits. Shadow pouted for him, 

"Sorry Clem, R.J is man enough for us both. See ya" she patted his face cheekily and then they left. When they were an approving distance down the street they burst out laughing. "I cannot believe he fell for that crock, what an idiot. And he didn't even ask what the vital info was! If everyone on the Project is as gullible and hormone driven as that fool then it'll be a synch putting a stop to the re-boost" They laughed all the way back to the hotel where they collected their room key and jumped into an elevator. Tyana pulled her wig off on the ride up then bounced out of the elevator. 

"There's something you should know about me" she exclaimed at the still blonde woman. 

Shadow began to walk down the hall, "what's that?"

"When I come back from a mission, if I'm not exhausted I'm hyper"

Shadow laughed, "Consider me warned" and then unlocked the door to their room and walked inside. Tyana pulled off her heels and did a few flips in the hallway to burn off some of her excited energy, feeling that it had been so long since she had been on a mini mission. She loved the sense of accomplishment. She dropped her wig as she flipped though and so when she was done trying to tire herself out she dashed back to it to pick it up, hearing the ting of the elevator doors opening as she straightened up with the wig in her hand. And there down the hallway a known man strolled out of the lift alone, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the girl with turquoise hair standing in front of him. 

Tyana's jaw dropped, "Jeff"

*************************************

***A/N* Ok, I like these next two chapters *squeal* but I won't post them just yet. A chapter a day sweetie, lol. Shadow, thank you for reviewing honey, you're the only one that does now days! And you're fantastic. *sings 1000 miles before laughing evilly* **


	14. 13 Cat Got Ya Tongue

**Chapter 13 – Cat Got Ya Tongue **

Tyana stared at him like the cat had her tongue. If she was truthful with herself then she could admit that since she had forced him off her mind earlier before she and Shadow had paid Clem a little visit she hadn't thought of him. But now he was standing just a few paces away, staring at her as if he was as shocked to see her as she was him. Tyana resisted every part of her body that screamed at her to run and embrace him, knowing that he still didn't know her and that would ruin all chances of getting his memories of her back. She took the calm approach to it all a smiled; "Hi" It was a simply greeting, universal to some extent. 

The youth continued to stare at her as if as he couldn't believe she was standing before him and then took a few careful steps forward. "Um, hey" he replied uncertainly, staring at her face hard, trying to place it. He took in her apparel and the black wig in her hands and realized she had been the girl he had watched in the lobby earlier. His head began to pump with confusion. But he willed it to stop because first and foremost she was the girl from his dreams. The one he was supposed to know and yet didn't. Jeff inhaled deeply, stopping his eyes from trailing over her for any longer period a time and forced his eyes to meet hers. Violet stared back at him, making him melt. How on earth did he know her? By the way she was standing there, her face expecting and hopeful, it was obvious she knew him. There was no harm in asking. He sighed again before opening his mouth, "Ok, um, this is gonna sound like some corny come on or something, which it's not, but, do I know you?" 

Tyana smiled a little when his brow creased at the end of his sentence. His eyes continued to roam over her face, still trying to place it, so she nodded. "Yeah, we met once…" she didn't want to scare, overwhelm or confuse him. she decided to let him think it was only by chance that he remembered her face in particular, "in a club I think." she smiled warmly. "And, um, well, I spent some time in Cameron too last year actually, maybe you saw me around" 

Jeff nodded, relieved that he wasn't losing his mind. So they had met it seemed. And his sub-conscience remembered her. So why was it he couldn't actually recall meeting her? God knew, a woman like that, he would remember. His eyes narrowed a little momentarily when he suddenly felt as if there was more to it than some club or bumping into one another round town. But what? He smiled to cover up his tiny nagging of suspicion, "that's good to hear, for a second I thought I had lost it; you just seem familiar you see" 

Tyana felt herself going weak at the knees. He remembered her! Well, no, not entirely. But something inside of him recalled her face; that had to be a plus, right? Maybe she could get him back after all. She felt herself going dizzy just thinking about it. She had to force herself to pay attention to what he was saying and then giggled a bit, "No, you haven't lost it, you're familiar to me too. Like I said, Cameron no doubt" 

"Yeah" Tyana watched him look her over again and then became very aware that what she was wearing wasn't exactly her usual ensemble. Now she felt like an utter whore. She shifted from stiletto to stiletto nervously, not knowing whether the conversation would branch out or had ended. 

Jeff laughed at her little hopping from foot to foot thing she was doing, "D'ya need to pee or something?" 

"What?" she realized what she was doing, "Oh" Tyana giggled, "no, sorry, I, just, um, realized what I'm wearing…don't get the wrong idea, I don't usually dress like this. I was, um, playing a joke on a friend of a friend, they have this feud of practical jokes going on, it's, uh, a long story" she laughed nervously at her improvisation, wishing she had come up with something more believable than that. But Jeff only laughed and seemingly took the bait. 

"Ok. Well I should probably, uh, get going…" he began, not knowing what else to say to her. He trailed off when he realized she hadn't told him her name,

"I'm sorry, Tyana, Tyana Maleé" she stuck out a hand and he accepted it gracefully, surprised at how firm and yet soft her shake was. She smiled brilliantly. He nearly fell over at how gorgeous she was. "Well, have a good night then" 

"You too" He stood there for a minute just staring at her, still stunned that he had some how managed to forget such a woman, even more stunned over how she was even prettier in real life than in his dreams. He hadn't known such a level of beauty existed. He snapped out of it when her eyes peeled away from his and stared down at her hand which was still locked in his. He let go, embarrassed, mumbling an apology. She merely giggled and said it was fine. They bid farewell again and then Tyana ducked inside her room and Jeff wandered down the hall to his. He gazed back down the corridor at her door for a moment before he, too, stepped inside. 

That night Tyana felt it hard to sleep knowing Jeff was in the hotel, knowing he was so close and yet so far. Unreachable. She tossed and turned in bed, kicking the covers off her hot form, then pulling them back up over her and snuggling deep into them. Into their safety. He was on this floor; that much she knew. He must have been, otherwise why would he have gotten off on this floor? _Maybe Matt or Amy are staying on this floor, maybe he's come to see them. Or maybe he's found someone else and he's staying with her tonight. Tyana immediately kicked that thought straight out of head because of the pain it caused. Finally when the digital clock on the nightstand lit up with the numbers 3:20 she clambered out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to cool off._

Tyana splashed her face with clean, cold water straight from the faucet then patted herself dry and wandered back out into the bedroom. The window, through which the moon was shining on her pink haired companion, was wide open and as she decided to take a walk she closed it to prevent the draft that swept through the room from chilling the woman in the bed near hers. Tyana pulled off her bed clothes and threw on a pair of baggy black pants and a white tank top. Her black bra straps hardly went with it but she didn't really care. It was far too early in the morning for anyone worth seeing to notice her so her appearance wasn't really a concern; not that it usually was. On the way out of her room, picking up a knife that was on the dresser below the mirror, she noted that her hair had grown since it had become short after her first jump. Now was the first time she realized it was creeping past her chin and down her neck. In true spur of the moment style she decided she would no longer cut it and would instead allow it to grow long. Tyana slid on her boots and then carefully slipped the knife inside, tired but not stupid enough to leave the security of her room without some sort of weapon as there were people out to kill her. She left silently. 

Tyana took the stairs down to the lobby, seeing no point in taking the lift as she wasn't tired and by all means had no time of which to be somewhere. When she got to the lobby she slipped out into the pool area and let the door close silently behind her, ignoring the curious looks of the two people on staff at the reception desk. Tyana inhaled the fresh and cool night air deeply, savoring the feeling of it swirling in her lungs then out into her veins, cooling her rapidly. 

"Cool black" she observed of the sky happily before she wandered over to the pool and sat on its edge. She pulled off her boots and sat them next to her, making sure her knife was only a flick of the hand away. Satisfied that it was as such, Tyana dipped her feet into the cold depths of the swimming pool's water and watched contently as the ripples she formed floated away from her, each kissed tenderly by the moon's light. She intended to stay put until all thoughts of Jeff's closeness and yet distance were far from her mind. But at the rate at which his face was pumping through her, she accepted that she would be there a long, long while yet. It didn't matter; at least she had the moon to keep her company. 

***********************************************

***A/N* I love the next chapter *cheers* lol, I'm not sure why, I just do. Anyway, Thank you Shadow for reviewing, you sweetheart, you. But no girl, you and Ty kick ass, lol. *sings 1000 miles* **


	15. 14 Moonlight Rendezvous

**Chapter 14 – Moonlight Rendezvous **

Jeff rolled off his bed with a thump. Upon getting beneath the covers many hours ago he had been curious as to whether thoughts of the woman named Tyana would plague his dreams. But instead they left his dream world and stayed with him in his sleep deprived state. His mind kept churning, churning, churning with images of her face, flashes of her smile, beams of her eyes, and all he could do was lie back and let himself drown in her, too tired and too curious to do otherwise. He knew she was staying on his floor, just a few doors down, but he knew her not, meaning it would be dreadful to disturb her at such an hour to ask such a ridiculous question as 'why is it I can't stop thinking about you?'. It was a stupid idea, he was aware, but it turned over inside his head time and again. 

Jeff sighed at his stupidity and clambered up off the floor. Maybe a breath of fresh air would do him good. Within a minute he had pulled on a pair of pants and tied back his hair, already annoyed with it even though he had not yet stepped outside into the cool breeze of the night. He left his room, locking it as he went, then shuffled past Tyana's room and down the stairs. When he came to the lobby Jeff looked about, trying to decide whether to take a dip in the pool or walk around the grounds of the hotel. He opted for the cool water of the pool and headed out back to take a swim. But when Jeff stepped out onto the cold floor of the pool area he found he wasn't alone. Sitting by the pool, basked in the light of the moon, was the reason he couldn't fall asleep. Unaware of it, Jeff's lips curved up as he looked upon her, swishing her bare feet back and forth in the dark night water, her back to him. Ever so quietly Jeff walked across to join her. 

He stood behind her, noting that she was still unaware of his presence as she gazed down into the pool at it's reflection of the black sky, and asked quietly, "Mind if I join you?" Instead of jumping, as he had thought she might, Tyana mildly broke her gaze away from the waters and then slowly turned her head so that she looked up at him. A smile crept onto her perfectly formed lips. 

"By all means" then she gestured at the bare spot next to her. Jeff sat down next to her, only then realizing he had been so preoccupied with thoughts of her that he had forgotten to put on some shoes, and rolled up his pants before dipping his feet into the pool. Tyana looked down at his turned up jeans and giggled, "That's a good look for you, nice legs" 

Jeff chuckled at her comment then nodded towards her rolled up pants, "you too, very fetching" She giggled at him again then let her eyes drift back towards the water that ripped twice over with the swinging of his legs and hers. They sat in silence for a long while, their legs bumping against one another's beneath the water on occasion, until Tyana sighed deeply and looked back over to him with big beautiful violet eyes that shone in the moonlight. For a long moment Jeff couldn't concentrate as he felt her stare penetrating his, her eyes studying his tired face, but he regained all sense of being when her lips parted irresistibly.  

"You've been having trouble sleeping haven't you? I mean, not just tonight, for a while now" Jeff looked undeniably taken aback by her comment. She was right on the nose, but how was it that a woman who seemed like such a stranger to him could read him so well? 

"How did you know?" 

Her face was somber, serious, "You have bags under you eyes" and then she laughed. Jeff rolled his eyes but laughed too. 

"Gee, thanks" Tyana ducked her head as she giggled again, as if she was embarrassed, and stared at her swishing feet with a smile. It was at that point Jeff felt a deep suppressed need to kiss her. He fought it. It was no secret to him that he found this woman attractive, one would have to be blind not to, but to act on it was something new altogether. It wasn't something Jeff Hardy would do. It wasn't something a gentleman would do. So he fought ever so hard to stop himself from acting on the impulse. He averted his eyes from her face, finding it only made him like her more. Slowly the desire faded, but slower than he would have hoped as he felt her breathing evenly beside him. 

"So, you're on the road a lot, right?" she asked, trying to play it as if they had only seen one another, as apposed to knew one another well. There was no need to confuse the man. 

"Yeah, most of the year" he confessed, shrugging a little then looking back over at the woman of turquoise hair. 

She smiled, "how much do you miss Cameron then?" 

Jeff made a small noise that was a half scoff, half sigh. Tyana thought it was adorable. "More than you could know. But at the same time it's ok, 'cause I'm traveling around doing something I love and seeing the world…well, maybe not right now" 

Tyana's brow creased, "Whatcha mean?" 

"Ugh, I've got some sort of health issues right now" he explained. Tyana's eyes flew wide open in alarm but eased as he continued to explain, "Not so much health issues really. It's weird, I've sort of been blacking out, and, well, having pains too" 

"What sort of pains?" she quizzed curiously. 

"Headaches, stomach aches, that sort of thing. But it's not just that; they're really intense, agonizing in fact. And eventually they always make me black out" 

_Sounds a lot like the ones I get as a side effect of the jumps, Tyana thought. "Have you seen a doctor about it?"_

"Yeah, a couple actually. But they don't know what's wrong. And they've tested me for plenty of god awful things and they're still clueless. So I've been banned from any wrestling or activity concerning it really. Not just for my safety actually, I have a feeling they don't want to alarm the fans" 

Tyana nodded in understanding. "So what do you do all day, watch everyone else do what you love?" 

"No way, that'd drive me insane. Although I can't say I have many other options. No one will let me go out alone in case I black out or something. So it's go with them and get jealous or stay at the hotel and get bored"

"In other words you sit on your ass all day and do frail all?" she concluded, laughing. 

Jeff chuckled too but his brow creased as he did so, "Frail? I've never heard that before" 

Tyana blushed, for whatever reason, "No, um, you'll have to excuse me, I come out with some stupid stuff sometimes" 

Jeff only smiled, "I wouldn't call it stupid; cute actually"

Feeling herself glowing red Tyana backed up a step onto their previous subject, "So do you want to go out and do something then? Because if they don't want you to go alone I'm sure I could find some spare time to go around with you, you know, get you out of this place" she gestured at the hotel around them. 

"I'd like that" 

"Cool…d'ya want to do something today? I don't think I have anything important to get on with" 

"Yeah, sure, we'll sort something out" he smiled at her widely, obviously very happy with the idea, and Tyana blushed again. "Actually, I have a question"

"Ok, shoot"

"If you spent time in Cameron last year does that mean you were visiting someone—say, a relative or boyfriend—or did you live there?" At that point in time he wished he was a lot smoother with the opposite of sex because his question of her availability was either likely to go right over her head or he would end up being embarrassed for asking. 

"No, I travel a lot; I like to spend quite a while in each place I go. So I just passed through Cameron as I went but I liked it so much that I stayed a while" He realized his question had in fact gone over her head. Although he _was curious to know why he hadn't seen—or couldn't remember seeing—her around the small town, he was far more interested in knowing if she was with anybody. _

"Travelling, huh? Where are you originally from?" 

She hated lying to him but she continued to tell herself that it was only for the time being; only until he could remember. "New York. I've been traveling since I got out of high school" 

"Interesting" 

She just nodded. Jeff's mind was suddenly drowning him with questions to ask her. Unfortunately he could only ask one at a time. But Tyana some how knew he was getting very curious about her and decided that she should probably leave his questions until they went out later that day so that she could still remember all the lies she had told him. Tyana got to her feet, drawing the conversation to a close while she thought of a new word to use other than lies; temporary untruths sounded nicer. She picked up her boots, 

"Oh, you leaving?" Jeff asked, watching her with sad eyes. 

Tyana grinned, knowing they must have been there for quite some time, "Yeah, I'm in room 85 by the way, stop by when you decide you're ready to go out and do something" Jeff didn't mention that he had seen what room she went into. He just nodded, 

"I will do. Any specific time?" Tyana considered it for a moment as she unrolled her pant legs. It was probably 4am now, maybe later. And Shadow was someone that seemed to like her lay ins. 

"Anytime later than 10 is cool with me. I'll see ya around Jeff" She waved a little, with a gorgeous smile, then turned on her heel and headed back towards the lobby. Jeff watched her hips switch as she walked off, her boots in hand. He hadn't expected her to turn back to face him when she reached the doors. He could see her eyes twinkling with mystery as she spoke, "And Jeff, just so you know, I wasn't visiting a boyfriend back in Cameron." She winked, finally answering his question. He beamed at her, wished her goodnight, then watched her disappear inside. He nearly fell into the pool backwards when he replayed her wink. She was perfect. 

*******************************

***A/N* See, I dunno why, I just liked this chapter. Maybe it's just me *shrugs* Shadow, as always, thanks for reviewing girl, I'm glad you're enjoying this story. **


	16. 15 Great Minds Think Alike

**Chapter 15 – Great Minds Think Alike**

Tyana nodded along to what Bret was saying about her safety—and therefore Jeff's also—on the little trip she was going to take with the man that morning. Wanting to finished getting ready she interrupted him, 

"Look, Bret, I get it. I'll keep a communicator with me at all times; I'll have a knife in my boot and a gun somewhere else. Everything will be ok, I feel it. And I promise, if there's any signs of being followed or such then I will get us out of there quicker than you can say hockey socks" he stared at her blankly then sighed and nodded. 

"Ok, I'm trusting your good judgment on this one" 

"Thank you" Tyana blew her big brother figure a kiss then strolled off to the bathroom to get ready. Shadow leaned back on her bed and stared at Bret, 

"So you think she can get him back?" she quizzed, aware of Jeff and Tyana's past 'situation'. He shrugged, 

"Who knows? But I can tell you one thing for sure; if it's possible then Tyana will do it"

"Ya know I can hear you talking about me" she suddenly called from the bathroom. Shadow and Bret chuckled before Tyana bounded out of the bathroom and stood with a hand on her hip. Shadow just stuck out her tongue before Bret signed off. Tyana giggled, pulled some hair out of her eyes and then did a twirl. 

"So whatcha think, do I look ok?"

"Where're ya going?" Shadow asked before she decided whether the outfit was appropriate. Tyana shrugged and stopped twirling, 

"Dunno, no where fancy or anything. Probably just out and about" she shrugged again. Shadow looked her over. The curves of her hips and thighs were shown at their best in a pair of low rise jeans and her top half was clad in a low v-neck white top with short sleeves, stopping far enough up to display a hint of her toned and tanned stomach. Her hair was down, as always, but was impeccably clean and undeniably smooth in its shiny turquoise way. To top it all off she had a pair of blue and white sketchers peeking out from beneath the leg of her pants. Shadow nodded her approval. 

"Cute, he'll love it I'm sure" 

Tyana beamed, "thank you", then crossed the room to grab her bag and make sure it had money, essentials and a weapon in it. She slipped inside one of her communicators and then found a small knife and slipped it into the correct slot. Just as she was about to declare her readiness there was a knock at the door and Tyana shot across the room to answer it so fast that Shadow barely registered her move. Shadow grinned when she saw Jeff standing there, greeting her friend with some sort of morning phrase. Tyana was almost fainting at the sight of the man in a simple pair of jeans and a tight v-neck white shirt. She laughed, causing Tyana to turn around and Jeff to peek in. Shadow bit her lip, 

"Sorry, it's just, his and hers" she nodded towards them. Both looked down and realized they were essentially wearing the same thing. Tyana giggled, a little embarrassed, but Jeff just smiled in amusement.   

"Great minds think alike" he pointed out. Tyana nodded and stuck her tongue out at the woman of pink hair. 

"Jeff, this is my" she thought quickly, "Travel buddy, Shadow, Shadow, this is Jeff" Shadow waved and jerked her head up in recognition from where she sat on the bed and Jeff returned the greeting with a small salute. "Ok, now, introductions complete, let's go. Shadow, don't get up to any trouble while I'm gone, ey?" Tyana asked, smiling. 

Shadow rolled her eyes, "Yes mom" 

"Cool, see ya later. Bye" Tyana waved as she pulled on her bag and then disappeared behind the wood of the door. "Ok, so, where are we headed?" she asked curiously as they walked off towards the lift.  

Jeff stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged, "dunno, I don't mind, it's up to you" 

Tyana shook her head, "no, it's your day out; I'm just here in case you black out and need someone to catch you" they stepped into the lift. 

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel manly" Tyana chuckled at him. 

"No, seriously, what do you want to do?"

"I honestly don't mind, so long as we just stay out of this damn hotel for as long as possible then I'm cool"

"Ok, then how about" she bit her lip while she thought of something they might both enjoy. "Movies, shopping, bowling or ice skating?"

Jeff smiled, "All of 'em, the longer I'm away from this place, the better; I hate being stuck here." He smiled and stared straight at her, "Company's not too bad either"  

Tyana forced back her blush and simply smiled in agreement. The lift tinged and they stepped off at the lobby. Jeff handed in his room key and then Tyana grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the lobby when she saw a taxi crawl by. She giggled as they ran along but it was already taken so they waited on the sidewalk. Jeff smiled when he noticed she hadn't unlinked her arm from his yet. But much to his dismay her arm fell from his when she lifted her fingers to her mouth, exclaimed in a loud whistle then shouted at the taxi that was cruising down the street. It pulled up by their side and Tyana grinned triumphantly as she pulled Jeff into the cab with her. "You're quite good at that"

The beauty shrugged with a cheeky smile; "It's a skill" They laughed, told the driver where to go and then sped off towards the mall. They talked all the way there, planning out their day and asking one another about how they slept after they had trawled back from the pool area early that morning. The journey wasn't long but it was enjoyed. They pulled up near the mall and Jeff paid the driver, although Tyana tried to insist upon doing so herself. The cab sped off and Tyana pulled her bag back on properly as they began to walk towards the mall. Soon they found themselves at the cinema where they tried to decide what to watch. It was between a comedy and an action movie. After much deliberation they both decided they wanted to see the comedy. They bought their tickets, purchased some pop corn, candy and soda then trudged inside to snag their seats. 

"Ok, where'd ya wanna sit?" Jeff asked as he stole a piece of pop corn out of Tyana's box and put it into his mouth. She playfully narrowed her eyes at him but then answered his question. 

"Doesn't matter to me" The truth was Tyana had never actually been to the cinema, so she didn't really know where the good or bad seats were. She impulsively wanted to sit up back, suspecting that the front would hurt one's neck, but already there were several couples littering those seats, either flirting suggestively or necking already. Jeff noticed her glance behind him at the final row and chuckled when she pulled a strange face then gestured to take any of the middle seats. He led her to the very center of the theatre and they settled into their seats happily. Well, maybe not. 

"Oh my god, these are hardly comfortable" Tyana moaned as she shifted about in her seat. Jeff laughed, 

"No, so long as no one sits in front of you then it's ok"

Tyana's brow creased, "why's that?"

"Because you can do this" Jeff kicked his legs up and rested them on the back of the seat in front, making Tyana laugh. She kicked up too then dramatically sighed as if it were the most relaxing thing ever. Jeff laughed with her, all the while thinking about how fantastic she seemed. Tyana rested her arm on the armrest and before long Jeff's arm joined hers there. The movie seemed to fly by.  

**********************

***A/N* OMG, I start college today, and I am soooo damn scared! *runs and hides* I'm never coming out! lol. ****Shadow, thanks for reviewing girl, and of course the last chapter was cute, how can it be otherwise when _Jeff is cute :o)_**


	17. 16 What She Never Had

**Chapter 16 – What She Never Had  **

Tyana and Jeff walked the mall together, dipping into stores that held items for them both, rather than just one. 

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom, ok?" Jeff informed her, placing his hand beneath her shoulder blades, as they neared one. Tyana nodded and told him she would wait here for him. He dashed off, leaving her alone, so she looked around interestedly. Eventually her eyes fell upon the manikins in the windows of the store she stood in front of and she began to admire a particular ensemble that consisted of a black tank top with red, orange and yellow flames licking at it from the hem upwards with a pair of baggy low hipped pants. She adored them instantly, but what she loved even more was the outfit that the manikin in the very corner was wearing. Tyana moved to stand in front of it and then smiled as she looked it up and down. It was a cute black dress with a floaty full skirt and clinging bodice. The bodice was lined with beads and glitter that trailed down towards the skirt but slowly became scattered and eventually disappeared before it went past her stomach. It had two spaghetti straps and the neck line was straight and nicely cut. It was so simple and yet so beautiful. Tyana had never had a dress such as that, and she wanted it instantly. Wanted what she never had. Her fingers rose to the glass, pressing against it gently as she continued to stare at the dress. 

Jeff washed his hands and then strolled out of the rest room and back out into the main mall, turning to head back towards the gorgeous woman he had come with. He had only taken a few sure strides in her direction before he saw her standing at the very window of a store, gazing inside in awe at what appeared to be a dress. Jeff paused a moment, capturing how much she seemed to want it, the very look on her face telling him so. He couldn't help but imagine her in it. The thought nearly knocked him out cold. He strolled over as if he wasn't so struck by the image of her in such a piece. 

"Back" 

Tyana jumped out of her reverie at the sound of his voice but then smiled, "Ok, where'd ya wanna go now?" 

Jeff smiled and jerked his head towards the dress in the window, "Try it on" It wasn't a question; he intended to make her do so. She seemed to adore it too much to simply let her walk on past.

"What?" she looked back over at it and Jeff's smile grew when he saw her eyes soften. She shook it off, "No, no, I couldn't. I don't want to bore you. Let's go somewhere we'll both like"

"I wouldn't be bored. Come on, come try it on" he took her hand and turned, pulling it gently. He melted when he felt her squeeze it a little as he pulled her with him into the store. From inside he looked back at the manikin in the window to get another look at the dress so that he could remember it exactly and find it easily within the store. But he noticed another outfit in the window, with flames, and turned back to Tyana, giving her a quick once over. She blushed a little. 

"D'ya like the flame thing too?" she nodded a small innocent nod. He just smiled at her. 

"Ok, well let's get you kitted out then" Together they wandered the length and breath of the store, picking out things they wanted her to try on. Finally they made it to the changing rooms where Jeff sat outside and waited patiently for her to appear in the first outfit. She was surprisingly quick at changing—so much more so than Amy—and the curtains flew open as she stepped outside of the cubicle with a giggle, doing a little turn in the flame top and black low hipped pants. Jeff nodded his approval instantly, loving how it hugged the curves of her hips and thighs. 

"You like?" she asked cutely before jumping out in front of the mirrored wall and inspecting herself. 

"Very much so. You?"

"Yeah, I do"

"Ok, put that on the pile of clothes to buy then and bring out the next one" Tyana smiled at him then vanished into the cubicle again to change. Time seemed to fly by as Tyana bounced out of that dressing room in outfit after outfit. Some of them were deliberately atrocious, just so they could get a laugh out of them, while others she seriously liked, but either way she always seemed to carry such a sexy air that let her pull them off. If it was up to Jeff he would have made her buy everything, even the things she had made clear she would never really wear, but it wasn't his money so he hushed up and just made it obvious how stunning he thought she was. Tyana, in result, ending up blushing several times over as she scampered back to the cubical. Finally she was trying on the dress that had captured her attention so well and Jeff couldn't wait for her to step outside so he could see it. She seemed to be taking a long time—or perhaps he was becoming impatient—so he called out curiously. 

"Ty, how's it going in there?" there was silence for a moment but then she answered by stepping out from behind the curtains. 

Jeff sucked in a sharp breath when he saw her and fought the urge to babble incoherently like an absolute idiot. Tyana stood staring at him, bare foot, in the dress, looking so beautiful and innocent and mind-blowing. Each curve she had was accentuated and her eyes shone out brightly over the black. She looked stunning! 

"Whatcha think?" she asked in a small voice, anxious over his reaction. 

Jeff got slowly to his feet and then held his hand out for her to come closer. She laughed as she did so then delicately placed her hand in his; perfect fit. He spun her out, watching as the skirt flowed around her then spun her back in, letting her twirl right into his arms, making her blush. He stared down into her bright violet eyes, smiling warmly,

"You look wonderful" Tyana slowly backed out of his grip with a smile and pink cheeks. "You really look beautiful" Her cheeks just continued to glow brighter, making him think she was just adorable. 

"Thank you" She stared at him for a prolonged moment with a smile then turned and admired the outfit in the mirrored wall. She sighed. Jeff's brow creased at her sad smile. 

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…I just kinda wish I could have it, I never had a dress like this" she shrugged to make it seem as if it all wasn't a big deal to her. It clearly was. 

"What're you talking about? Of course you can have it" 

She shook her head, "No, it's far too expensive, I can't afford it" 

"Well I'll buy it for you then" She swished the skirt about a bit before raising her eyes to meet his in the mirror, her violet orbs shining at his generosity. 

"I can't possibly let you do that. It costs so much…and besides, you hardly know me" She went to go back to her cubicle, wanting to take it off before she got too attached. Jeff caught her arm gently, causing her to turn to him. He stared deep into her eyes. 

"Maybe so but I certainly want to" Tyana tried her best not to faint at the way he was gazing upon her, intensely, seriously. She wanted this dress so bad—not nearly as much as she wanted him—but she couldn't let him do something such as that for her. She shook her head again, making sure to make her shakes soft but firm.  

"I appreciate it but I can't let you."

"You can, you just don't want to" he said pointedly. "Tyana if you're concerned about manners or whatever else, forget it, I want you to have the dress" His arm was still holding hers so softly, squeezing it very gently when he said something he truly meant. 

For a moment she found herself lost in those green eyes of his, swimming in the sea of emerald, awash with his soul. She struggled against the tide to snap back to reality. A small sigh escaped her lips, "Jeff, even if I did get it, what would be the point? I don't have anywhere to wear it"

"Sure you do, I'll take you to dinner" her eyes went big, even a little watery, at how sweet he was being. He stroked his thumb against her elbow, "Somewhere nice, you can wear the dress. Come on" he smiled cutely, trying to coax her into it, "you know you want to" 

Tyana bit her lip, finding she could do nothing but gaze at him with large eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this…" she muttered quietly, a tiny smile playing on her lips, "but are you sure?"

Jeff's lips curved in triumph, "Absolutely" 

So Tyana relented, "Ok, but I'll pay you back" he finally let go of her arm as he shook his head.

"No way, it's a gift"

"Jeff, please, I—"

"Tyana" he looked at her sternly, but with a caring smile, "It's a gift. Now go get changed, we'll ring all this up" With one last glance at him, and a wide smile, she bounced into the cubical. With the sound of the dress's zip sliding undone, Jeff sat down, glad he had agreed to spend the day with her.

********************

***A/N* Woohoo, College was great. Although today was just sooo hectic and, omg. Lol. Although I must mention now that I probably won't be updating on Monday's or Tuesday's because I have no time to write or really even post a chapter as I get stuck out of the house until almost 7. Hopefully you'll all understand that. But hey, maybe, if you're lucky I'll somehow manage an update on those days anyway. Shadow thanks again for reviewing. Great to hear the boys will be in Making Their Way, I'll be looking forward to that. Thanks for also suggestion the Humanity's conscience series to your friend, it was so sweet. Thanks :o)**


	18. 17 Flirting

**Chapter 17 – Flirting**

Tyana hugged Jeff long and hard the second the bag containing her dress had been handed to her. He held her other bags in his hands, being the gentleman as always by insisting to carry them, and tried his best to hug her back, laughing a little. 

"Thank you, thank you, thank you" she gushed, squeezing him tightly. The woman behind the till laughed at them with a warm smile. "I owe you something, anything you want, I'll do, I promise" she continued to gush, finally letting him go. Jeff resisted the urge to ask her to hug him one more time, loving how good it felt to have her pressed against him. 

"You don't owe me anything. Now come on, let's go skate" They headed off in search of the nearest skating rink. When they found it, paid and got the ice skates they sat down to put them on. With that accomplished Jeff got up to head towards the rink but found Tyana wasn't following, and instead was sitting still on the bench, looking worried. He laughed, realizing what was going on. 

"You've never ice skated before have you?" 

She shook her head vigorously, "Never. I bet you I fall flat on my ass" 

Jeff laughed and wobbled back over to her, his hands outstretched, "I'll teach you, it's not hard. Just stay close" she most certainly didn't have a problem with that. Tyana took both of his hands and stood up uncertainly. They toddled onto the ice together and then Jeff helped her get started, gripping her hand almost as tightly as she was gripping his hand back. Tyana, being such a quick learner, got a hold of it almost immediately. But she had Jeff's hand. She pretended she still needed help and threw in a wobble here and there, just to make it believable. Only she wobbled a bit too dramatically at one point and genuinely fell flat on her backside. She pouted, 

"I told you I'd fall" 

Jeff just laughed at her then pulled her up, "Well, just, be more careful" when she was standing he continued, "Did you hurt yourself?" She was pouting still. It only made him chuckle more. 

"You mean asides from my pride? No, only my butt" She made a point of rubbing her backside. Jeff restrained himself from rubbing it for her. Finally she grinned, bored of pretending she was hopeless, and skated away from him backwards, throwing in a few twirls and such just for good measure as she whirled around the rink. She worked around it anti-clockwise then ended up back at Jeff's side, linking his arm with hers before pulling him off to skate with her. He looked at her with suspicious eyes, 

"I thought you couldn't skate" 

"I couldn't; I'm a very fast learner" 

He looked unconvinced, "No body can do that after a minute on ice"

"I'm not just any body" she said with a grin before she let go of his arm and skated off, throwing a smile and a wink over her shoulder. He stared after her, agreeing totally. Then he skated off after her and the day continued, full of laughs and smiles. 

When they were done at the rink they realized they hadn't yet had any lunch even though the evening was vast approaching. They grabbed a hot dog each and then wandered down the streets, struggling to eat while carrying all their shopping. 

"So when's your birthday then?" Jeff asked. 

"24 in a few weeks. You?" she already knew his birthday; she just didn't want him to know that. 

"25 in a couple months" she nodded, took another bite of her hot dog and continued to walk. They walked along talking even long after they had finished eating. When the sky darkened they decided it was either time to go bowling or head back to the hotel. Not wanting their day together to end just yet they opted for bowling, even though Tyana claimed she didn't know how to do that either. Jeff doubted it though; if the ice skating incident was anything to go by she could bowl just fine. But hey, if he had to get up close to show her how to throw the ball right then he'd just have to cope. He was suddenly very much looking forward to bowling. They grabbed a cab to the nearest alley, once again paid, then got their shoes, pulled them on and headed down to their lane. They noticed that any other lanes that were in use had a number greater than two playing on them; they shrugged it off, it wasn't relevant. Jeff explained that the aim was to knock down as many pins as you could. Simple. Tyana nodded and told him he best go first so she could study how it was done correctly. He got a strike. Tyana clapped. 

"Very nicely done. Is it my go now?" 

He nodded, "Sure is. Ok, get the ball that feels best" Tyana grabbed a nice heavy one. Jeff deiced he'd let her try it out—it wasn't like it would hurt if it was too heavy for her. She was holding it as if it was a feather. Jeff smiled, walked up behind her and told her how to hold the ball. It was obvious to them both that Tyana was holding it wrong on purpose but neither held a complaint against it. Jeff pressed himself up against her back, molding her into the correct position, then reluctantly stepped away as she threw the ball. Strike. 

"You sure you've never done this before?" he gave her a playfully suspicious glance. 

"Positive"

"And why should I believe you?" She bent over, picked up his ball, and handed it to him with a dazzling smile, "Because it's the truth" Jeff dripped into a puddle of mush when she beamed at him like that. The game progressed. Tyana won, bruising Jeff's pride a little, but they just laughed it off and decided maybe it was time they headed back to the hotel. They traded shoes back in, got their bags and grabbed a cab. They were standing outside of Tyana's door half an hour later. 

"Thanks for coming with me today; I would have gone crazy if I had been stuck in my room for yet another day" 

Tyana smiled, "It was my pleasure, I had a lot of fun." She shook her head to try and get some stray hairs out of her eyes, being that her hands were so full of bags that she couldn't successfully reach her eyes to do so. 

Jeff laughed; "Here let me get that" transferred his few bags into one hand then reached out and brushed her hair from her eyes. 

"Thank you"

"No problem. Ok, so I guess I'll see you around?"

Tyana nodded, not wanting him to go just yet, "Yeah. If you decide that you want to get out of that room of yours then you know where to find me" 

Jeff smiled at the offer, "I'll keep that in mind"

"Good. Thank you for a wonderful day. And, for the dress" she held up the hand which held, amongst others, the bag in which the item was folded neatly. 

"Well don't go putting it away too soon, you owe me a dinner remember?"

"Don't need to tell me twice" The unruly strands of turquoise fell back in front of her eyes, making them giggle. Tyana struggled to reach up to brush them away the same second Jeff moved to do so, causing their hands to collide. Jeff smiled at her as he brushed away the locks, but found Tyana enclosed his hand in hers before he could move it away. She stared at him, the air around them shifting hugely. Jeff gazed back at her, noting the way in which she was looking at him. He smiled before she leant in and gently kissed his cheek. Shock waves snapped down his spine. He almost didn't hear her whisper "Goodnight" 

Tyana smiled when she pulled back. Jeff managed to murmur a dizzy "Night" before she turned, struggled with the door behind her because she had so many bags and then fluttered inside with the door closing behind her in a second. Jeff smiled ruefully. He stared at her door for a second then wandered down the hall to his room and slipped inside. He threw his bags down on the floor randomly and moved towards his bed. He blacked out before he reached it. 

Unaware of her effect on him, Tyana set her bags down neatly inside the door and bit her lip, overjoyed, as she fell backwards onto the bed. She looked over the room from her upside down position and saw Shadow standing grimly with a gun in her hands, another on the dresser beside her. Tyana quickly sat up and looked at her friend with a grave face. 

Shadow frowned, "We got a mission to do, get ready"  

**************************************************

***A/N* Sorry updates have been all over the shop, I just started college you see so I've really got to organize time around it. Anyway, d'ya like the new ff.net? I love it, but maybe that's just me. Hehe. Shadow, thanks for updating hun. Oh crap, I forgot about making their way again, *runs off to get her college schedule* ok, I should be back early this afternoon, I'll read it then. :o) **


	19. 18 By the Pool

**Chapter 18 – By the Pool**

Tyana jumped up immediately, all thoughts of Jeff now far from her mind, and pulled off her trainers. She tugged on her boots and then inquired as to the what's, where's, who's and why's of the mission. 

"A few hours ago Quande and Bret finished analyzing the details of all the disks we scanned. We know the names of the people making the card replicas. And we've found the first person's location. We're raiding" 

"I presume the target of the mission is to render him unable to make the cards, correct?" 

"Right" Shadow loaded a gun. They hadn't a clue whether the people creating the chips were under maximum security, or none; but they weren't going to be caught out, whatever the outcome. 

"And how exactly do we do that?" Tyana got a knife, slipped it inside her boot, then got her own gun. 

"While you were out with lover boy" despite the upcoming situation Shadow managed a grin, "which we simple must gossip about later" Tyana chuckled at her then paid attention, "I had to work out the kinks of this memory eraser. It had been tampered with so that instead of wiping the memory, the flash of blue was programmed to the other end of the spectrum, red, and with the chemicals released it would therefore successfully _restore memories. I had to get the filter back to blue and check it works." Tyana stopped loading her gun at what she heard and raised her head very slowly, finding that in her hands Shadow held the device they had been talking about. Tyana's throat went dry and she came over dizzy,_

"Where did you get that?" she asked calmly, stopping herself from stuttering. 

"Your drawer, Bret said he sent it with you. He told me what to do to fix it, because he want to erase the memories not res…" Shadow trailed off when she noticed Tyana's face had drained of all colour. It dawned on her. "Oh frail…Ty it was programmed for Jeff, wasn't it?" 

Tyana just continued to stare at the device within Shadow's firm hands. The moment she saw Tyana's eyes clue with salty tears, Shadow felt like banging her head repeatedly against the wall. But Bret and Quande had insisted upon it. And they could reverse it again, she was sure. "Oh, Ty, we're so sorry. I mean, I didn't know, I thought they made you bring it, like, especially for this." Tyana had averted her eyes from the technology and was now abruptly continuing to load her gun. Shadow fastened a hand over hers, stopping her from carrying on the task, "We'll fix it again, I promise" 

Tyana just pulled her hands away in upset and shoved her gun into her waist band. "What else do we know about the card maker?" It was obvious she didn't want to talk about it; didn't want to acknowledge that the one thing that stood between her and ultimate happiness was now morphed back into the form that had made her so miserable in the first place. Shadow filled her in on the other details as she gave them both the smallest ear piece communicators they had. Tyana fitted hers instantly while she listened and then realized she was ready. Gun; check. Knife; check. Communicator; check. She was done. Shadow was the one with the memory eraser. Tyana pulled on a sweater to conceal her gun and they left a minute later. 

It was half an hour later when they arrived at their destination and Shadow was worried over the fact that Tyana had yet to say a single word since leaving the hotel. She would fix it all as soon as they got back to the hotel but right now they had a mission to do. They crept round the side of the house in which the chip maker lived and worked until they found a window they cold fit through. Luckily it wasn't fastened correctly and so Tyana managed to slip a small flat object up between the gap and pry it open a little further. When it was wide enough for her fingers to fit in she slipped a hand inside then pulled until the window came swinging open with a clang. Both girl's winced and waited for any sign of alarm from the chip maker but when no one came to investigate the noise Tyana jumped up inside then pulled Shadow in. They were in a downstairs bathroom. Tyana stepped up to the door and opened it a crack, looking to see if they had company. When it became apparent that they were still undetected Tyana slipped outside of the bathroom and crept along the hallway so silently that even Shadow, who was right behind her, couldn't hear her footfalls. 

The sound of a television was coming from the room at the end of the hallway so Shadow brushed past Ty and tip toed down there. Glancing through the crack in the door she concluded that the chip maker was content watching the people on screen and so the girls turned and moved to investigate where inside the house he made and kept his chips. They opened a few doors very quietly on their way back up the hall until they came to one separated from the others at the very end. Behind it stood another door. Large and silver. 

"Basement?" Shadow whispered in tones so hushed Tyana didn't hear her at first. They both nodded. The girls slipped behind the first door and closed it silently behind them then turned back to the larger silver block. It had a small box cut into the wall to the left with a number pad, screen and enter button on it. Tyana presumed one must type in the correct code for the door to open. She cast her mind back over the documents she had memorized from Clem. One number seemed to reappear in a couple of places. She tried her luck. 

Tyana stepped up to the pad and typed in the number she hoped would work. "5937" The screen lit up. The door, soundlessly, opened. Tyana smiled triumphantly, looking at an impressed Shadow over her shoulder, and then moved down into the attic. They closed the door behind them.

"D'ya reckon this place is soundproof?" Shadow asked quietly. 

Tyana shrugged, "I dunno, but we should keep our voice's down anyway, no point in risking it" she murmured back. Shadow agreed and then immediately they noticed how full the room was of shiny silver devices and machines. It seemed as though it took a lot to make those tiny little chips. The girls began to search for the chips already made, if any, and after a few minutes Tyana discovered a well armed volt. It took them a great while but they together managed to open it using a combination of strength, luck and intelligence. Inside was one chip, completed. They took it and Tyana slipped it into her bra, muttering how comfortable it was after a short, quiet giggle. Shadow bit back a laugh and then they move dot take care of the chip that was soaking in liquid silver inside, a device counting down numbers and flashing with statistics attached to a rod of metal which touched the chip. The girls shut the device off; carefully used the tongs provided to remove the chip then wrapped it in tissue and stuck it in Shadow pocket. This meant that their opposing project was now behind in its plans, at least by a few days. 

They began to inspect the vast quantities of equipment and supplies. Tyana stole the bag of gritty granules that had to be melted together to form the base of the chip and Shadow found the materials used for the inner programming. She stole that also; both girls planning to analyze the materials before destroying them. They began to pick apart the machines, unscrewing them and then destroying the central nervous system, so to speak. 

"Having fun?" 

They whirled at the voice, finding the owner of the house standing at the bottom of the basement stairs. _Two girls, he thought,__ easy. He charged them. They both elbowed him in the face at the same time, knocking him to the floor as well as out cold. Shadow sighed, _

"Well that was boring" they found a chair and tied him to it using the cables they had ripped out of one of the machines. They continued to dismantle and destroy everything, selecting various things to take with them. By the time they were certain there was no chance in hell any of the equipment could be repaired the owner awoke and Shadow pulled out the memory device from her bag. 

She grinned. Both girls jumped up the stairs and opened the door in front of them. "Yo, jack ass" Shadow called with a challenge, causing the man in the chair to swivel his head to look up at them. Shadow pressed the flash button, making sure to cover her eyes and look the other way. They would have to get glasses or something she decided. The flash did its job. They left as silently as they had come. Mission Accomplished. 

Tyana was disturbingly silent all the way back to the hotel but it didn't take a genius to figure out why she wasn't speaking. Clearly the woman was upset over the fact that she would not be able to give Jeff back his memory until after Shadow and Tyana's mission was completed. The older woman of the two with the shocking pink hair felt badly for her; she truly did. But she had been ordered to fix the device, it wasn't as if she had a choice; or even knew for that matter. But she apologized when they got back to the hotel nonetheless. 

"Look Ty I'm really sorry we had to change the device, I know how much Jeff means to you" 

Tyana scoffed, shook her head and moved around her still friend. Shadow turned and followed her. "You don't know anything; none of you do. Don't act like you do" She headed towards the lifts. 

Shadow sighed, "Well I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm taking the stairs" she didn't push her luck and so left the turquoise haired girl to sulk. She did. 

Tyana waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor as she pouted, sniffing back a single tear. She scuffed her shoes on the floor, understanding that she shouldn't be upset because it wasn't as if she would never get the device back, it was just a matter of waiting, but feeling betrayed over it anyway. A figure out by the pool caught her eye. Tyana pushed aside her disappointment, forgot the elevator that just at that moment tinged open, and wandered out of the doors. The moonlight shone off of the glistening waters ebulliently, basking the figure that dipped its feet into the white and black ripples in its magnificent glow. She settled down beside it with a sigh, smiled at the person's pleasantly surprised face and then slipped off her shoes and socks. 

"Long time no see stranger" she smiled, looking over at her companion. 

"Same goes for you" they replied. 

Tyana's smile widened as she leant over and nudged the person gently in the arm, "So Jeff, what's the matter, can't sleep?" 

Jeff grinned and shrugged, "Haven't really bothered to try yet" 

Tyana's brow creased as she reached out, took his wrist in her hands and tries her best to read his watch in the darkness. "But it's almost 1"  

He nodded, "Yeah, I know" 

"Are you not tired then?" 

He smiled; "I was…but I felt like coming back down her, seeing if I would find company" Tyana blushed in the darkness. They continued to talk. 

Upstairs Shadow gazed out of their hotel room window down at the poolside and smiled when she saw Tyana and Jeff sitting there contently, talking. Without tearing her eyes away from them she spoke to both Bret and Quande who were lighting up the screens of their respective communicators. "How much does she love him Bret?"

She didn't notice his shrug, "No one but Tyana could answer that question. But my guess?" Shadow turned to look at his screen when he paused. He smiled warmly, even a little proudly, "So much so that the thought of life without him is unbearable" Shadow nodded, agreeing, and looked back down through the glass to where the two people sat. She smiled with her own warmness as she watched on, smiling widely when they knocked each other simultaneously into the pool. They seemed so perfect for one another. Shadow wanted something like that. Maybe one day she would find it. 

Back at the pool Tyana gasped and laughed as she bobbed up and down in the water, squealing at Jeff for pushing her in, squealing at the water to leave her alone. She couldn't stop herself laughing, even when she saw Jeff take a massive great breath and duck under the water. She giggled and tried to look around for him, finding that the reflection of the night sky on the water made it impossible to see beneath its surface. She knew exactly where he was when two strong hands grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down into the blackness of the waters. She wriggled out of his grasp and swam down deeper in the pool with a powerful kick, mimicking a fish as she slipped beneath him then came up behind him and grabbed him back. They resurfaced together. 

"You suck" Tyana yelped playfully. Jeff laughed at her and tried to break free of her embrace, finding she was stronger than he had expected. He was impressed. He kicking about, turning as he went, then faced her with a huge grin. 

"You're no angel either missy" they laughed together. Slowly Tyana's giggles died out and then she began to glance down at the water with a strange expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just not to fond of, like, open water" 

"This isn't open water; it's a closed swimming pool"

"I know, but I hate it anyway" she stopped herself from mentioning that old school mates had tried to drown her when they found out she was apposed to The Witnessing. Ever since then masses of water larger than a bathtub full became a challenge. 

"Why?"

"Just me being silly I guess" she lied. Jeff laughed a little, pulled a cute face, and then swam closer. He hesitated for a second but then pulled her into his arms. He smiled, "I promise I'll keep you safe"

Tyana grinned, "As will I you" they both laughed before they realized they were both soaked to the bone, hugging one another tightly, basking in the glow of the moonlight. Tyana stared up into his eyes, just as he looked down at hers. Slowly her smile faded. She bit her lip shyly. Then she grinned. Jeff smiled at her expression, his eyebrows lifted in curiosity. His silent question was answered when Tyana wriggled down and out of his grip, swam through his kicking legs then surfaced on the other side of him. He turned to her, only finding that she splashed him with a laugh. He gasped as the water hit his face then glared at her playfully and splashed back. Soon they were slapping water around at each other once more. 

Upstairs Shadow smiled at how cute they were down there, splashing about and laughing together. Something inside told her that even if Tyana had to wait, they would be together. 

*************************************

***A/N* wow, feels like such a long time since I updated. Probably has been actually, lol. Hope ya liked this chapter. ****Jamie thank you for reviewing, I'm really glad you're enjoying this story. I'll keep it coming. **


	20. 19 Wearing the Dress

**Chapter 19 – Wearing the Dress**

The next morning Shadow awoke promptly at 9 when one of the communicators started beeping. She crawled out of bed with sleep still etched on her face and staggered towards where the device sat on the dresser. Nothing that Tyana was still sleeping she took the communicator and answered it in the privacy of the bathroom. She hoped Tyana didn't mind that she was answering her communicator. She flipped it up, 

"Morning…oh, morning Shadow" Bret greeted, obviously expecting to find his Guided on the other end of the line. 

Shadow nodded tiredly, "morning Bret, d'ya me to wake Ty or will I do?" 

He smiled, "no need to wake her, you'll be just fine" Shadow nodded, her pink locks bopping about as she did so, then jumped up onto the counter next to the sink. She blinked for a minute, trying to erase the blur of sleep form her vision and when satisfied urged Bret to continue. "Right, well, first of all I want to congratulate you on your success last night, I just remembered I never actually did that"

"Thanks"

"Quite alright. Ok, so, moving on. We're trying to pin-point the second card maker. So far we have a name but nothing else. Finding their location is a current problem. So we're trying to pin point the others at the same time. We should, hopefully, have the locations of the remaining card makers by late tonight. Tomorrow seems like a good time to mimic last night's mission."

"Tomorrow, got it" she nodded. 

"Good, in the mean time I think it's safe to say you can have the day off, both of you. Shop, talk, whatever it is you want to do. If we come up with the locations by this evening then we'll move up the mission but I think it's fairly safe to say you don't have to worry about that, the process is going very slowly indeed."

"A day off? Cool, Ty'll be so happy" 

Bret's face softened and switched to concern, "how is she taking the news about the memory device? Is she still upset about it?"

Shadow nodded, "Yeah, I think so. I mean, she was when we got back last night but she's still asleep so I don't know. Maybe she got over it in the night, I don't know" the beauty shrugged. 

"Alright, well I'll leave you to you free day. Take care" 

"You too, bye Bret" 

"Bye" the screen went blank. Shadow sighed; _I hope she's over it. But she recalled last night, how Tyana and Jeff had been in the pool. And she knew her friend would still be upset. _

When Tyana awoke that morning she showered straight away then dressed and sauntered out into the main bedroom while she tried to pull on some socks. 

"So whatcha wanna do today?" Shadow asked as her friend dressed.  

"I dunno, whatever you want, I'm not bothered" Tyana shrugged, but her tone didn't indicate that she would be pleased by any activity. It implied that she was still upset about the use of her communicator without her permission. 

Shadow opened her mouth to suggest something, daring not bring up the topic of the memory device, but there was a knock at the door that interrupted. Tyana strode over to it and opened it. She pepped up as soon as she saw who stood on the other side. 

"Morning" Jeff greeted with a grin. 

"Morning" Tyana replied before she looked back over her shoulder at her grinning friend. She slipped outside and closed the door behind her, "sorry, my friend is totally nosey" 

He laughed, "No problem. I just came by to see what you're up to today; well, no, tonight more specifically" 

"Tonight? Nothing, why?" 

"I was thinking we could go to dinner, like I promised." 

Tyana beamed, "Sure, sounds good. Where we going?" Like it made a difference! 

Jeff smiled and taped the side of his nose, "That's a secret. You'll see tonight, just made sure you're wearing the dress. Does 8 o'clock sound good?"

"Sounds great." She nodded enthusiastically.  

"Good. Ok, well, I gotta go, Matt and Amy have the day off so we're heading into town. Actually, you can come if you want, I'm sure they wouldn't mind" 

Tyana wanted desperately to say yes but something in the back of her mind told her maybe it would be overkill if she spent the day with him then accompanied him that night. And also there was the small fact that her newest friend was sitting in the room behind her, expecting to spend their day of hanging out. She shook her head, finding it reluctant to move in the left to right direction, "No, it's ok. I already have plans with Shadow actually. But thank you for the invitation."

"Ok, well have a good day"

"You too"

"And I'll see you tonight" Tyana beamed at the words. She had a date. Wait, could it really be classified as a date? The only reason they were going to dinner was because she had wanted that dress so bad. But then again, she thought, he wouldn't have spent so much money on me if he didn't like me. Her mind fought over it while she tried to focus on reality. 

"You most certainly will"

"Good, it's a date" the voices inside her head stopped bickering; well that certainly cleared that one up. He smiled wide at her nod, noticing she was biting her lip to keep back a huge smile. It took everything he had to stop himself from kissing her. He said goodbye once more and left before he forced his lips upon hers. Not that it would be such a terrible thing. Tyana stepped back inside her room with high spirits. 

"So girlfriend, where we headed?" Shadow laughed at her sudden change of mood and thanked the forces that be that Jeff was such a miracle worker. They both pulled on some boots, grabbed a jacket each then left. 

*** 

Jeff met up with his brother and friend in the lobby with a huge great smile, a spring in his step. Matt raised an eyebrow at his terribly happy exterior while Amy just chuckled. They both knew he had met a girl but he had refused to spill any details, supposedly because he didn't want to jinx it. 

"She said yes I presume" Amy guessed with a large smile. Jeff nodded emphatically. She chuckled again. 

Matt smiled for his brother but grew impatient, "Who is this chick anyway? You've been going gaga over her for the past 2 days" 

Jeff shrugged, opening his mouth to say something to the extent of 'just a girl' when the elevator doors pinged open and out burst a familiar laugh accompanied by one that was no so known to him. He turned at the sound and smiled wider when he saw Tyana and her pink haired friend stroll out into the lobby. The turquoise haired sweetheart smiled and waved when she saw him then continued with her friend to the reception desk to hand in their keys for the day. Matt and Amy followed Jeff's gaze, finding it settled happily upon a gorgeous woman with bright blue-green hair. Matt's eyebrow arched at the sight of her. Something about her seemed quite familiar to him but he couldn't pinpoint what. Amy found the same problem but they both silently dismissed it when they realized the woman at the desk was the perfect fit to Jeff's description of the girl from his dreams. 

"She looks like the girl you keep dreaming about" Amy commented. 

Jeff nodded, "I know, strange isn't it?" His eyes stayed fixed to Tyana even as she left. Matt and Amy exchanged a look and decided without words that Jeff liked this girl because she was alike the figure that haunted his subconscious, as apposed to actually being the girl from his subconscious. They gave in their keys and left the subject of the mysterious woman without another word. 

*** 

The day flew by for Tyana and Shadow who shopped until they dropped then picked themselves up, went to the gym and on to the movies. They laughed all day long, cementing the opinion that they got along well. Finally the evening came and Tyana showered thoroughly, washed and dried her hair, curling it and letting it falling indelicate ringlets to her exposed shoulders, slicked on a bit of natural make up and then pulled on the dress with a pair of thin strapped, high heeled stilettos. The clinging bodice enhanced the shape of her chest and the delicate spaghetti straps were highly feminine. The glitter of the bodice glinted in the bathroom light, winking back at her in the mirror. She ran her hand down over the beaded bodice and smoothed out the floaty skirt. She felt like a princess. Sighing with satisfaction and smiling in anticipation of the evening that lay stretched out before her Tyana exited the bathroom and stood in the bedroom waiting for Shadow—who had a screwdriver in hand, tweaking a device of some kind—to notice her. The pink haired woman was so engrossed in what she was doing that Tyana had to clear her throat. But finally the girl raised her head then let her jaw hang slack and her eyes bulge as she took the other woman in. 

"My dead lord, Tyana!" she gasped, getting up from where she sat and crossing the room to inspect her friend closer. Tyana giggled at the response but Shadow wasn't done, "Whoa, what the hell? Oh my gosh, you look fantastic. Damn girl, lookatcha body, you're so stunning" Tyana's cheeks finally began to glow a warm red. A knock at the door stopped Shadow while she was still standing staring at the turquoise woman. A glance at the clock told Tyana exactly who would be on the other side of the door. She took a deep happy breath, exhaled then found her coat and moved to answer the door. She did so elegantly and stood with a smile as she found her date staring at her with a stunned and pleased expression. 

She giggled, "You like?" 

**********************************

***A/N* Sorry about lack of updates, college is a bitch. I'm lucky I managed to nab the comp to finish this chapter off. But I don't have time to say anything more except thank you for reviewing :o) *blows kisses and runs off to do homework***


	21. 20 Giggling

**Chapter 20 – Giggling **

"Whoa" Jeff eventually mumbled with his mouth slung open in pleasant shock, his eyes sparkling with a glint of gaga. 

Shadow laughed from where she stood nearby, "I think he likes it" and winked at Tyana when she turned around to acknowledge her friend's comment. 

Tyana giggled at them both and began to pull on her coat, "so where are we going?" she quizzed as she struggled to find the arm. Jeff politely helped her into the jacket as he denied answer to her question. 

"You'll see when we get there" 

Shadow sing-songed something about them both being beautifully mysterious but Tyana ignored it and pulled her curled hair out from the coats collar. She addressed the woman of pink hair. "Ok, well have a great evening ok? And don't wait up" 

Shadowed grinned, "I will and I won't" and replied to both comments, adding one of her own with a smile, "Have a great time." Tyana beamed warmly, thanked her and left with Jeff right at her side. Walking abreast with one another they ambled over to the lift. Twenty minutes later they were walking into a beautiful little restaurant that simply shimmered with charms that Tyana had never been treated to. She giggled helplessly when she had her chair pulled out so she could sit and then she gazed around her at the decorative interior of the establishment, the delicious aromas of the fine meals that were offered tingling along her taste buds already. When she was done looking about in childlike awe she looked over the table to her date only to find him smiling with slight amusement at her stunned expression. 

"Never been anywhere like this before then?" he guessed with a smile. 

Tyana shook her head, smiling with some sheepishness, and answered, "Never. It's so pretty."

"Well then you have something in common" he pointed out. Tyana's already blushed cheeks glowed a warm pink and she found herself looking down at the table cloth with an embarrassed smile. Jeff chuckled at her sweetness and continued. "Seriously Tyana, you look stunning tonight; even more so than usual." 

"Thank you" she answered quietly, smiling at him warmly. The night rolled on smoothly. 

By the time dinner was over Tyana was clinging onto Jeff's arm giggling non-stop at all the things he was coming out with. 

"You're absolutely crazy" she pointed out while chuckling, her arm linked through his. He merely thanked her, causing her to laugh a little more. When she had calmed somewhat he asked what it was she wanted to do next, if anything at all. After a minute of pondering the question Tyana's smile widened and she exclaimed her proposal. 

"How about we go bowling?" 

Jeff stopped walking, dropped his arm from hers, took a step back and looked her over. "You wanna go bowling in that?" 

Tyana shrugged and smiled, "Yeah, why not?" 

After a second of looking playfully scared of the suggestion Jeff's lips turned up into a smile and he nodded, "Sure, let's do it" then they were off. Once they arrived at the alley they got a lane, swapped their inappropriate footwear for some rentals and sauntered down to their lane. 

"Don't these shoes just set off my dress delightfully?" Tyana quizzed in a giddy fashion as she did a twirl then began to pose. 

Jeff laughed at her and shook his head, "And you think I'm the crazy one" he commented. She stuck her tongue out at him before informing him that she was going to find the right weight ball. Mumbling an "ok" he turned his attention to typing their names into the game programmer. Having finished that rather easy task after only a few seconds Jeff turned to go and find a ball of his own. Instead he paused and watched Tyana where she stood several yards away inspecting the rows of balls, trying to pick which one she wanted. He stared happily at her at she glanced over them all, picking the odd one up to feel, and then when she was finally satisfied she had found the one she wanted to use she clasped it casually and turned to head back in his direction. But when she pivoted on the flat heel of her rentals she found Jeff watching her with a cute smile and while biting her lip she let herself smile too. Without a word she joined him, set her ball in its correct home and then stood at his side, waiting for him to say or do something. After what seemed like a long, _long while he cleared his throat, embarrassed to realize he had been staring so hard, and muttered that he was just going to get a ball. Tyana nodded and let him wander off with flushed cheeks. _

His slight shyness disappeared when he returned and went to take his go as Tyana, game for fun, walked up behind him and pinched his behind cheekily. He turned with a playful glare to accuse her in a humorous manner of trying to distract him but all he saw was the gorgeous turquoise haired woman standing looking in any which way but his as she whistled casually and rocked back and forth on her heels. "Watch it Ty, you know I'm gonna get you back for that when you least suspect it" 

Up for it she extended her hands and moved her fingers in a threatening and beckoning way, "bring it on!"  The rest of the night was all laughs, smiles and flirtations from there on out. 

Meanwhile back at the hotel Shadow sighed in boredom and flicked off the television. Just because the only person she knew in this realm wasn't with her didn't mean she couldn't have fun, right? Deciding maybe she should at least go out to eat, possibly go to a movie or a club perhaps, Shadow hopped up off of her bed, dashed into the bathroom where she changed and whipped her fantastic hair out of her face with two silver bobby grips. She found her wallet, one of her tiny communicators, a weapon of choice and a lip balm, shoved them all into her bag and pulled on her trainers. Ready to go she looked herself over quickly and casually in the mirror, left a little note for Tyana explaining her whereabouts just in case by some weird twist of fate she ended up being out later than her friend and then locked up. Shadow only just managed to catch the first lift down by practically hurling her body through the closing doors. They squeezed shut behind her and she smiled in satisfaction at her small accomplishment. And then she noticed she wasn't alone in the elevator and the person she shared it with was staring at her with eyes of amusement. 

She smiled, "Amused?" 

The person chuckled quietly, "Somewhat. I've just never seen anyone so desperate to get into a lift" 

"Yeah well what can I say? I'm impatient." She said as she shrugged, smiling coolly as she confessed her weakness. 

The person nodded and returned the friendly beam before they let their eyes shift to the numbers at the top of the lift that declared what floor they were currently on. Shadow stared at the person for a split second, knowing exactly who it was, but there was nothing else to do so she saw no reason why she shouldn't stare at them. Although her eyes only lingered on them for a tremendously short period of time the person noticed it and looked back over to her. They raised one eyebrow inquisitively. 

Shadow retained her naturally cool atmosphere and pointed out an off hand but nonetheless correct comment, "Your brother's on a date with my friend" 

The stranger looked slightly taken aback but recovered quickly and then took a second to study her. "No wonder you look familiar, I saw you with the girl with the turquoise hair…she's with Jeff tonight, huh?"

The lift tinged and they both exited as Shadow replied, "Yep. Looked like they were going somewhere nice, too." She chuckled, "don't tell anyone 'cause she'll kill me but she's crushing on him so bad" 

Matt laughed at her comment, "I won't. Promise" He pretended to do a little scouts honor salute.   

"Thanks. So you got plans this evening or summit?" 

Matt shook his head calmly, "Nope."

"Good. Wanna go and grab something to eat?"

Caught slightly off guard again Matt paused but just lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant gesture again, not realizing the girl's casualness was rubbing off on him, "Sure"

"Good. I was so bored. And I'm mega hungry" she glanced at him with a cheeky grin, "And you're cute" 

Matt laughed at her statement and continued to walk with her through the lobby. "Thanks"

"Not a problem. By the way, I'm Shadow" 

"I'm Matt"

"I know"

"Oh" And then they were gone. 

*******************************

***A/N* Sooo sorry the update has been so long coming. But that's life, right? Anyway, thanks**** Shadow for reviewing honey. You totally rock my socks *sings 1000 miles* **


	22. 21 When You Reach Dizzy Heights

**Chapter 21– When You Reach Dizzy Heights**

Tyana watched as her ball went flying down the lane, dead center, and knocked all the pins clear off balance. Strike. She shrugged at it, seeing as it was the 9th one that night and all her other shots had been spares, but smiled with satisfaction as she turned on her heel and wrinkled her nose happily at Jeff. Knowing how desperately his ass was being whooped by this woman he tried to sneer but instead his lips curled up into an agreeable smile. 

"Now I know last time I took you out wasn't the first time you did this. Come on, confess, you're a pro aren't ya?" they both laughed. Tyana sauntered over to him with a smile and held out a hand as if to pull him up,

"If I was a pro then I'd be getting strikes every time, no spares" She took his hand, pulled him to his feet and began to shuffle him towards his ball. "Now show me what you're made of" She slapped his behind and nodded towards their lane. 

"You got a thing about my ass or something?" He quizzed as he took his run up and throw the ball hurtling down the lane towards the pins. 9 flew out in all directions and one was left standing in the corner. 

Tyana shrugged when he turned to her, "What? It's a nice ass" she grinned, found his second ball and passed it to him. With a wink he took the ball from her and followed up on getting a spare. For the remainder of the game Tyana flirted with an out of character outrageousness but she beamed to see her passes were returned often. They finished their game and tied up all loose ends before leaving the alley. It was almost midnight now and neither wanted to end the date. As they walked quietly together, Tyana's arm linked through his, and her heels clicking on the pavement, they both racked their brains as to what they could do now. Finally Tyana parted her lips and let a suggestion spill from them. 

"Let's go back to the hotel, to the pool. Unless you can think of anything better to do that is" Jeff looked down at her gorgeous face and immediately thought that nothing else could be better than taking this woman to one of the first places that he _remembered meeting her._

"No, let's go" they headed back to the hotel and after they got the keys to their rooms they wandered out back to the pool and sat down at it's side. Both pulled off their shoes and dipped their feet into the water that glistened in the light of the crescent moon. They spoke openly about their view of their night together and both happily concluded it had been a great date. Before long their lips had met and their minds both swirled around in happiness.  

In the lobby Shadow strolled in with her sure stride, Matt at her side, and continued talking while they made their way to the desk. They picked up their keys, laughed at something they agreed on and went towards the lifts, passing the double sets of glass doors leading out to the pool on the way. They walked straight past them until Shadow paused, grabbed a hold of Matt's arm—causing him not only to stop what he was saying but to jerk back when she pulled on it—and moved back so that they stood in front of the doors. They both gazed out and smiled at the picture of Jeff and Tyana indulging in one another poolside, neither showing any signs of wanting to stop, their lips moving rhythmically together. 

"Looks like their date's going well then" Shadow observed. 

Matt nodded, "So it does" 

He was the one that pulled her this time as he moved them both back towards the lifts, leaving the two to their privacy. Shadow smiled gently, glad that things were working out for Tyana, and followed the man whom she had no romantic but definite platonic interest in. He was cool, that was all she could say; he was just plain cool. 

A while later Tyana and Jeff split lips long enough to make their way up to their floor where she leant back against her door smiling, Jeff standing right in front of her with a mirrored expression. After a moment he let his forehead furrow and ventured to point something out.  

"This is gonna sound weird but I have serious Déjà vu" he explained. "From kissing you I mean" he clarified. She knew why he had that sense of having kissed her before and told her heart not to leap with the confirmation that something inside him remembered her, remembered them. 

"You're right. It does sound weird" she murmured smiling. But her smile grew wider, "Good for you I don't mind weird" She bit her lip slightly with her smile and left it open for Jeff to decide whether or not he wanted to kiss her again. He leant in without a second doubt and their lips merged naturally as if they had done it millions upon billions of times before. Wanting to prolong the sensational essence the experience was giving her Tyana wrapped her arms around his neck. He showed no objection to the action and complied by slipping one hand around the back of her neck and the other arm around her waist. Time melted away and suddenly it was as if they both remembered everything. Everything. 

The blaring of the television inside finally broke the magic of the embrace so for the final time that night they both pulled away and whispered promises of another meeting before they both disappeared behind the wood of their hotel room doors. Once inside Tyana pulled off her heels and her jacket and smiled at Shadow who was pretending to be thoroughly enthralled by the television more so than the opportunity of gossip. Tyana smiled at her friend then slipped into the bathroom where she removed her make up, smiling helplessly all the while. She slipped out of her dress into a bathrobe and brushed out her hair. Satisfied that she was ready for bed Tyana moved to the leave the room but not before suddenly becoming overwhelmed by a sensation of utter confusion and dizziness. And for once it was _she that passed out before she could find her feet._

********************

***A/N* Sorry, it's a short chap I know but I gotta go to work and I wanted to update. Mwa, thanks for reviewing :o)**


	23. 22 Caught In the Middle

**Chapter 22 - Caught In the Middle**

_Tyana lifted her head, her eyes finding that all she could see was darkness. Black, empty, shadowed darkness. She clambered to her feet, her muscles aching and throbbing. Turning slowly she tried to let her eyes adjust while at the same time searching for a stream of light. A little way off she could see the bright glow of something reflecting the moonlight that she now realized was shining faintly through a window 10 ft up what must have been a wall. Curious, she headed towards the glinting object…_

Tyana flickered back to consciousness with the sounds of Shadow trying to get into the bathroom echoing around her. Dizzy, confused, and cloudy she shifted her weight enough that Shadow could turn the handle and slip in. 

"Ty, are you ok?" she asked worriedly, kneeling beside her fallen friend. 

Tyana blinked and tried to focus. "I think I blacked out" she mumbled quietly, attempting to shake it off. Shadow nodded, 

"I think you did too. Come on, let's get you up" Shadow lifted her friend to her feet and supported her as she lead her back into the bedroom to her bed. She laid her down, letting her mumble confusedly as she pulled the covers over her. The beautiful woman had fallen asleep even before Shadow reached the communicators. 

***

The next morning Tyana awoke slowly, her head pounding with a gentle urgency. As soon as her pretty violet eyes fluttered open the beating between them began to instantly increase and within seconds she found that she very much so needed some aspirin. She slipped out from between the covers and let herself balance on her feet, a little dizzy, before she started off towards the bathroom where she and her friend left such things that could be considered medical. Once inside the confines of the tiled white room she closed the door silently so not to wake her friend who was sleeping sprawled in an uncomfortable fashion over her bed as apposed to in it, still fully clothed because she had fallen asleep in the early hours of that morning while trying to stay awake in case her dizzy friend was to need something in the night. 

Tyana found herself some pain killers and swallowed one, following it up with a few gulps of not-so-tasty tap water. She breathed a sigh of tiredness and confusion over her fainting last night and then took a moment to stare at herself in mirror. Her hair, still growing but surprisingly not splitting at the ends, was nearing her shoulders now, a tremendously flatter length against her face. Her eyes with the lilac specks that usually sparkled, now slightly dulled, were heavy and cloudy, misty because she had become somewhat exhausted since last night's black out. And her lips, usually so full and pink seemed paler and sadder than usual. And so to combat that strange emotion she smiled a little and pinched her cheeks, adding some more colour to her face. As she had pointed out to both Bret and Quande last night when she had stirred and found Shadow talking to both Guiders, she was not ill. But she looked slightly rundown nonetheless. And that was why her older-brother carer Bretski had fallen asleep at his station last night while running tests on her mentality and her physical state as well as her emotional state. Quande was the only one who hadn't slumped into the world of exhaustion through worry and panic. 

Tyana showered to perk herself up as well as, obviously, cleanse. Then when she was dressed she tip toed quietly into the bedroom, retrieved her communicator which was still switched on showing Bret slumped at his station, snoring, and then headed back to the bathroom. She set the lid of the toilet seat down and then sat on it. A little clock in the corner of the screen showed that it was well into the morning, being that it was 10:21am. She reluctantly awoke Bretski. 

He blinked, shook his head and then smiled a sleepy smile when he realized who was waking him. "Morning" he yawned as he stretched. "How are you feeling?" 

Tyana nodded, "Bit of a headache is all but otherwise I'm good. And you?" 

He stretched his neck. "Fine thank you." He instantly clicked into information mode even though he was still half asleep. "I found no anomalies in the data regarding your health and such. You're perfectly healthy in all aspects. So what made you faint I'm not sure. But I swear I'll figure it out soon." He clicked away with one hand on the keyboard, "but while I was running checks on you I continued to run and research another card maker."

"Cool, whatcha come up with?" she quizzed, her own health second in her head compared to the importance of her mission. 

"We have a name and address. But it's only safe to do this mission tonight. So you and Shadow can have the day off, rest, recover, prepare yourselves, whatever you so wish" 

Tyana smiled, "thanks" she paused and then raised a hopefully eyebrow, "Does that mean I can see Jeff today if he wants?" 

Bret's lips curved into a warm smile, "Have a great time. I'll keep Shadow up to date." He winked and signed off. Tyana smiled, feeling suddenly better than before. She may not have known why she blacked out but she knew one thing; a day off never hurt a soul. 

That afternoon Tyana looked over at Jeff as she continued to pound her feet in rhythm on the dance mats. He stole a glance at her at the same time and smiled before turning back to face the screen. 

"I'm kicking your ass" Tyana called, referring to the competition they were having in the arcade. Jeff missed a move but nailed the next combination. 

"No way, I'm winning" 

Tyana scoffed as she hit yet another correct combination_. Back, left, right, left, back, left, left, front. She was getting it all right. When it came to physical competitions no one did better than Tyana. She was a fast learner and was as fit as anyone could be. And best of all she was feeling great, a direct opposite to how she had been feeling when she woken up that morning. Tyana hit the final combination with only one flaw and then jumped up as the dance mat game declared her winner. Jeff shook his head, rolled his eyes and stepped down from the platform. _

"No, it's definitely broken" 

Tyana laughed and joined him off the machine, "You're such a sore loser, just admit it, I kicked your ass" 

They continued to bicker playfully for several minutes as they looked around for a sign of a game they had not played. When they found none they deduced that maybe they had spent too much time messing around in the arcade and so left, walking abreast with one another as they headed back towards the hotel. 

"Ok, whatever, it's just a stupid game" he concluded, grinning. Tyana rolled her eyes, stuck out her tongue and walked a little faster. Jeff increased his pace to keep up with her and then pulled gently on her arm, asking her to slow down a little, feeling that there was no need to be so brisk in returning to their place of accommodation. He slipped a hand into the base of her spine and lowered his lisp to her ear when she slowed so that they were walking leisurely, 

"You won" 

The words were irrelevant and incomparable to the shivers of pleasure Jeff's voice sent down Tyana's spine. He smiled at her reaction and took one of her hands. 

"So have you blacked out recently?" Tyana asked curiously as they plodded down the pavement. 

Jeff shook his head, "not for a while. But I'm still being kept out of the tour anyway." 

Tyana squeezed his hand gently, knowing being kept from the ring drove him insane, "How long until they let you back to work?"  

He shrugged, "I'm not sure but the rest of the roster is moving on to the next venue today. I figured I may as well stay here if I can't go" he admitted, looking down at her with a smile. 

Tyana beamed, glad that he would be in town for a while longer. She opened her mouth to reply to the statement when a bullet shot past them, barely missing her head. Instantly Tyana pulled Jeff to a crouch beside her behind a car.  

"Frail" she cursed, knowing everything was becoming too good to be true. _Typical, she concluded as a line of bullets scattered across the wall in front of them, __just when it gets good people decide they still wanna kill me.  _

"What the fuck is going on?" Jeff screamed in disbelief and fright. 

Tyana held his hand tightly and concentrated on getting them both back to the hotel alive. "I dunno" she lied, not wanting to scared him more, "But I'll be frailed if we're getting shot." She noticed the line of bullets descending, blatantly heading towards the car. "But when I say now run like hell" The scream of bullets hitting the top of the car echoed inside her head. "Now" and with her hand gripping his tightly Tyana pulled Jeff to his feet and ran with him at a sprint down the pavement, the bullet's destruction following and missing them by a split second. And all she could think when she ran, almost ripping Jeff's arm out his socket she was pulling him along beside her with such force, was that she was the most hideous person in the world to have gotten him caught in the middle. 

***************************************************** 

***A/N* Sorry updates are like so minimal! It's just that it's Christmas and I'm not on break from college yet so everything's mega hectic. But this chapter is quite a nice length so hopefully that'll help persuade you to forgive me :o) hehe, have a candy cane *hands out* and thanks for reviewing. **

**Update Notifications: To be emailed when I update, email me at sillymoo8@hotmail.com with 'Blurred Turquoise' as the subject title. Or mention it in your review.**

**Thanks for reviewing: **

**Shadow: Alright sweetie? Well, you did get to know Matt but he's moving on to next town now so that was pretty brief, lol. *sings 1000 miles* hope you're good, thanks for reviewing :o)**

**Ashley: Yey, you're back! Thanks so much for spending time reading both stories, I really appreciate it. Hope you continue to read and enjoy my lil story, :o) thanks for reviewing. **

**Jenni: I'm so glad you like this story, you're compliments are very sweet. I tried my best to write something original when I first started H.C and I'm happy it turned out the way it did. Thanks for spending so much time reading the stories, I hope you continue to follow it, thanks for reviewing :o)**

**Hrdybyz330: it's great that you like both stories, when I started this sequel I was afraid it wouldn't be able to live up to the first one and quite frankly I still suffer that fear. Thank you for telling your friends. Thanks for reviewing :o)**

**Someone: Well if something is gonna happen between Matt and Shadow then it's going to have to happen over a long distance isn't it 'cause he's back on the road now, lol. Thanks for the encouragement and the review :o)**


	24. 23 Resurfacing

**Chapter 23 – Resurfacing**

Tyana and Jeff ran stumbling into the hotel lobby and he doubled over trying to catch his breath. "Ty, what the—" he began before she grabbed his hand and dragged him immediately to the stairwell where she urged him to trail after her up to their rooms. When they finally burst onto the correct floor he caught her hand in his and pulled her backwards, slowing her down. 

"Calm down, I think they've gone" he assured her, breathing heavily as he gasped for air. 

Tyana nodded and then doubled over to catch her breath also, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to inhale calmly, berating herself silently for be stupid enough to put Jeff in danger. Jeff however watched her as she gasped; noting that she was tense and cringing in such a way that told him he should be suspicious. He straightened, still exhaling sharply, and winced at her, waiting to ask her something; what exactly, he wasn't sure yet. Tyana looked up at him at the lack of conversation and noticed the way he was looking her over. 

"What?" she asked, straightening herself and clicking her neck. 

"Do you know what the fuck that was about? You don't look as if took you by surprise" he observed. 

Tyana tried her best to keep her true identity under wraps, not wanting to explain it all again when she could wait a month or two and use the Memory Device to re-install all that he had previously known. "I don't think it's sunk in, what sort of shit like that happens anyway?" she lied, trying to calm her breathing to she could concentrate fully on whatever other lies she was sure were to soon leap from her mouth in a deceitful explosion. Jeff till eyed her carefully. 

"You're not in a gang or none of the shit are you?" he jerked his head over his shoulder, signaling the scene they had fled from. 

Tyana shook her head and brushed a strand of her blue-green hair out her eyes. "No way. I swear to god, I'm not. I'd be too frailing scared" part of her smiled at that; the last thing she could afford to be was scared. Usually the adrenaline gave her enough kick to ignore any part of her that was trembling anyway. She stopped her thoughts spinning around the subject of fear, or lack of, and made sure she came across as sincere. She trembled her lips a little, batted her eyes, trying to summon tears from within; they weren't hard to find, she just had to recall a few of the scenes she had witnessed in her life and they came flooding down like a dam having burst it's walls. She wrapped her arms around herself, "Jeff what if someone was hurt back there?" she glazed her eyes over for a split second then choked a little, "Oh my god, we could have….we could have…" she choked as if she couldn't bring herself to say it. That was true though; she couldn't say it although it was for a different reason. She couldn't say it because they_ couldn't have died back there, she wouldn't have _let_ them. _

Jeff's eyes softened immediately, realizing she couldn't have been involved; she was suddenly far too shook up. One thing was for sure he noted, it had sunk in for her now. He closed the gap between them and wrapped her in his arms, hoping it would steady her trembling body. He hushed her, stroking her hair, telling her it was ok, they were fine, he was sure others were too. Tyana nodded into his chest and slipped her arms around his waist, squeezing it for a second. She hated to lie to him like this, she felt lower than scum, but it wasn't just a case of it being easier. He was safer not knowing. That was a mistake she had made before on her first mission; by telling Jeff she had pulled him into the danger of her world and he had followed her straight into it, risking life and limb for her. And until she could close down the underground mission and be rid of her assassins it was safer for him not to know; safer to think it was all totally coincidental that these things happened near her. Tyana knew that now; she knew it wasn't such a bad thing that Shadow and Bret had taken her memory device and reversed it for their mission. Jeff had a better life that way, at least until she could be done with enemies for good, and if he was safe she could at least be happy. 

She sniffed, drawing in the tears that were real but we being cried for reasons other than the assassin attempt. "I think I want to lie down" she murmured, dragging the back of her hand across her eyes. Jeff nodded, 

"Ok. Is Shadow in or do we need to go get our keys?" He asked. 

Tyana wiped her eyes again, "she should be in, she told me she would be" Jeff nodded, took her hand and led her down the hall towards her room. He knocked then pushed it open, finding it wasn't locked. Shadow wasn't in the immediate bedroom so Tyana presumed she was in the bathroom. Tyana took a seat on her bed and smiled warmly when Jeff bent to kiss the top of her head. 

"You gonna be alright here?" 

Tyana nodded, "Shadow's gonna be around and I'll probably just go to sleep anyway" out of the corner of her eye she could see Shadow peeking into the room from the bathroom door. She ignored it and kept her attention focused on Jeff. "I'll call you later, ok?" He nodded, whispered his agreement and kissed her gently. With that he left and Tyana waited until the door was closed until she let out a deep breath and looked over to Shadow. 

The pink haired woman instantly stepped out from the other room and swanned over to the bed, creases of concern appearing in her face. "Did you pass out again?" she asked worriedly, assuming that could be the only reason why she would have ever cut a day with Jeff short. 

Tyana shook her head, "No. some assassins tried to shoot me again and as Jeff was with me he started freaking, asking why I knew what to do and shit. I had to pretend to get really shook up to get him to forget the notion that I could be involved. I thought it'd be better if I just ended it there, if I spend any more time with him today I'll only end up making more lies and I've gotta keep them all straight in my head" 

The way her face was so blunt but so regretful told Shadow Tyana hated lying to Jeff the same way she hated the bastards they were trying to stop from re-launching The Witnessing. She placed an understanding hand on Tyana's knee and patted it. "Good idea, Hun. Hey, at least this way you've got time to get into your mission state of mind, we've only got a couple of hours until we're out of here. Until then, how about we order room service? Ice cream sound good?"     

*** 

Tyana doubled over in pain, the air blasting from her lungs with the sharp kick that had hit her square in the stomach. Before she could straighten she was smashed in the head by the heel of a particularly heavy boot and was sent sprawling backwards, slamming into a wall and slumping to the floor. 

"Oh _frailllll_ no Jack-ass" Shadow taunted as she tapped their opponent on the shoulder and they turned, getting their jaw caught unfortunately on the bone-cracking end of Shadow's right. Their head swung to the side and Shadow followed up, punching them once in the solar plexus then ramming the base of her hand into their nose, breaking it with a sickening crack. Tyana struggled to her feet, pushing aside thoughts of how they had both idiotically underestimated their opponent, and launched herself into the air in one fluid movement, her foot connecting with she base of the guy's spine, sending him to his knees as he bent in pain. 

"I'll get the chips" Tyana barked, leaving Shadow to demolish their enemy while she went about running to the volt across the large room. She punched in a combination Bret had figured out for her. The volt door clicked open and Tyana wondered how her guider did it, he was so intelligent. She snapped back to reality as she took out the completed chips and slipped them into her back pocket. There was one partially started chip, not quite at the liquid silver stage, and she took that too, putting it in her pocket with the others. Near by she could hear the dull thud of a head hitting the floor and she had to look over her shoulder to make sure that it wasn't Shadow's. She was glad to see her friend was standing over a near unconscious figure. "Let's deal with this crap" she gestured to the chip making machines, closing the volt door, not before changing the code to open it. Together, with the chipmaker almost out cold, they began to cut every which wire they could get heir hands on and then dumped a few devices on the floor to shatter them, just for good measure; and a little therapeutic release—they hadn't expected the bastard near by to be so well trained in fighting, that was _their_ field. 

When the place was a picture of destruction Tyana pulled the memory device out of her back pack by the wall opposite and crossed to the shallow breathing body. She paused and looked down at them, watching their hazy eyes flicker onto her with mercy. She shook her head with pity. "sorry buddy, you picked the wrong side" she slapped his cheek to add to her sentence then typed in a code and held up the device right in front of his un-focusing eyes. "Shadow, you know the drill" Shadow laughed and covered her eyes, looking the other way also. Tyana did the same and let her finger slip over the flash button. 

And then she applied pressure. 

*** 

Back in his hotel room Jeff slept calmly, his eyes flickering beneath the messed sheath of his eye lids. He dreamt deliciously, something seeming terribly familiar as he did so… 

_"What?" Jeff asked her as she beamed for what appeared to be no apparent reason.  
She snapped out of whatever trance she was in and her smile widened.  
"Nothing…just thinking of you"  
Jeff flushed with a gentle sweetness and moved towards her. As he sat there she noticed the worry slide back onto his expression and a second later a hesitant hand rose to her cut lip. His eyes stared back with a concerned curiousness and she smiled at him, as if knowing what he thought. With caution his index finger moved slowly to her lip and with a pleasurable tenderness he trailed it carefully over the cut. He winced as he waited for her to show some signs of pain but instead she just stared back at him, her eyes smiling.  
Tyana rested her hand on his leg then, stunning him momentarily but he recovered within seconds and focused again on her damaged lip. As his fingers danced gingerly back and forth across it he smiled at Tyana whose eyes were unhurriedly closing with his touch.  
"I hate seeing you hurt," he whispered truthfully, her eyes then peeling open at his statement. Her right hand reached up and clasped around the hand on her lip. She smiled,   
"I know," she murmured back. The hand that wasn't clutched in Tyana's reached for her and wrapped around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.  
With a smile Jeff leaned in and kissed her jaw gently. Tyana beamed at his sweetness and before she could do the same to him he kissed her temple. Soon his lips were dancing across her face gently, making her eyes close at the feel of it. And just when he pulled back to kiss her on the lips for the first time a small beeping began. Tyana pulled away from him slowly, sighing as she got out of his lap and walked over to where her bag sat in the corner. Jeff cursed whomever it was that was calling her at such an hour and such a moment. He was so close…_

He sighed even in his sleep, treasuring her presence even in his unconscious world. He hadn't a clue that what he was dreaming, what felt so familiar, wasn't just some random sequence dreamt up by his heart. It was his past resurfacing. 

************************************************************ 

***A/N*** Soooo sorry this has been like months to be updated! It's just I had very little time and such a huge case of writers block which I only just managed to out-write this weekend. Anyway, Shadow and Lilmizzxtreme, that you for reading, I hope you continue to do so. :) 


	25. 24 Done and Dusted…Not Quite

**Chapter 24 - Done and Dusted…Not Quite**

Tyana pumped her fist in the air and shrieked with utter delight, her eyes welling with tears she was so exultant. Shadow laughed and they high fived one another, proud and triumphant. Tyana pulled Shadow into and embrace and hugged her tightly. 

"Thank you so much" she whispered, "I couldn't have done this without you…hell, I'd probably be dead by now" 

Shadow shook her head and backed up, "No way, it was a team effort…we saved each other's asses!" she laughed and hugged Tyana one last time before she switched attention to the unconscious final victim of the good side. It had been a week and a half since the day Tyana had spend a day with Jeff only to get him caught up in assassin attempt on his life and in those 10 days they had worked towards this one night, repeating their previous mission by visiting the last houses, destroying the chips, the equipment, erasing memory. And they had finally done it. On the floor beside them, unconscious, unknowing from now on, was the final one, the final chip maker. And they had done it. They were free of it all. The Witnessing was over, Bret was sending a plagued virus through their enemy's remaining systems at this very point in time and they were free of it. 

"Come on" Shadow began, moving her eyes away from the blacked out figure to Tyana, "let's get out of here" Tyana nodded and they left, jumping clean out of the window into identical crouches on the lawn in front. The stayed squatted for a second, savoring the excitement of their final mission, staying cautious even though they had no opponents now, and then they darted off into the darkness of the street in front of them. Their feet slammed against the tarmac as they ran down it, sprinting away from the final reminder of the life they could now leave behind. They thighs trembled with the excitement, their muscles beginning to ache as they ran for miles back to the hotel, not stopping to gasp for breath once. They reached the area in which their place of residence was located and allowed themselves to slow a little, giggling with happiness, giddy with the fizzing of left over adrenaline. Inside they were exhausted, their muscles over worked and tired from such long periods of grueling activity, their lungs working hard to keep them breathing enough to respire as they slowed their pace, their mind allowing now unneeded details to filter out of it, making way for memories of new experience they were looking forward to so readily. 

They would live the life of the mortals of this plane, they would get work, they'd find a place to live, and they'd do all the stupid little things they could never do in the other world. And they would cherish it. Because they weren't being watched. No one was. And they never would be.   

Tyana gasped a little, trying to refill her lungs efficiently as their legs slowed to walk, "Ya reckon we can still stay in contact with Bret and Quande? Now that they don't need us, I mean."  

Shadow shrugged but smiled, "Hopefully. They've done a lot for us" Tyana bopped her head in agreement. Her senses were alive and thirsty, drinking in every new sights, sound, taste, smell of her new life. A life where she could be safe and liberated and happy. A life where she could be with Jeff, the way she had wanted to for what felt like such an eternity now. But then her hungry senses picked up something from her old life; the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her arms rose with tiny tingling goose bumps, her body began to pump with adrenaline again as it picked up on something, as it recognized an all too familiar sensation. 

They were being watched. 

Tyana swallowed slowly, clenching her fists subtly, still walking so not to alert Shadow with a quick movement that could get them both killed. God, how could she have forgotten this? Of course she wasn't free, people were still trying to frailing kill her. Assassins still wanted to see her dead, still wanted to view the sight of her blood leaving her lean young body. She knew that was who was watching her, she could _tell_. She reached for Shadow's hand and took it gently, giving it a short squeeze. Shadow looked down at her hand clasped in her friend's and her forehead creased; she knew something was wrong. Something was out of kilter, Tyana's grasp alone told her that much. She looked over at her friend's face, her hand still in hers, and knitted her brows, asking her silently what was going on.    

Tyana's eyes were wide, flickering with energy that was preparing her to fight or run, or maybe both. "They're watching us" she whispered, barely moving her lips. 

Shadow's eyes widened just a little, "who?" A bullet that pinged off the pavement below them answered her question and Shadow's eyes instantly flooded with energy that reflected that in Tyana's. She had thought everything was done and dusted, she had thought they were out of danger. But as their legs took them off at a cheater-like sprint again everything within her screamed that it wasn't true. Not quite. 

*** 

Jeff stirred awake and stretched, feeling a glowing impression flood his body as he woke. He had been dreaming of Tyana again, dreaming of their before life. But he didn't hadn't figured out that he was reliving it. He thought it all seemed so familiar, so right, because it was Tyana and he knew her, he knew he wanted what he wanted in the dreams. His was clueless to the experience of his past creeping up on him. He yawned and looked over at his bedside clock, noting that it was 3am. With a dry throat he crawled out of bed, deciding he would get a drink of water before he climbed back under the covers and released himself into the world of the truth again. He stumbled into his bathroom in a semi-sleepy haze and found himself a glass, filling it with water and sipping a few gulps from it. He poured the rest away and returned to the bedroom, throwing back the covers to clamber back in. just as he was about to hit the mattress there was a knock on his door. Thinking he was so tired he was imagining it he went to go back to sleep. When the knock sounded again, more eager, he looked over at the door and let his brow fold. He climbed back out of bed and crossed to the wood, opening it an inch to look out. A familiar head of turquoise hair stood in front of him so he opened the door further and looked her over, noticing in his tired state that she was fully dressed, slightly sweaty, panting a bit. 

"Ty, it's 3 in the m—" he was cut off when she threw her arms around his neck and crushed her lips into his, kissing him hungrily. Even though it was so early he could hardly tell his hand from his foot every part of him responded to her touch and he kissed he back, wrapping his arms around her waist. After a moment more she pulled back, far more breathless than she had been when he had opened the door to him. She beamed into his lips, brushing them against hers in a feathery way. 

"Sorry, I just needed that" she gasped, biting his lip gently when she was done speaking. Jeff nodded mutely, stunned by the desire lapping his half awake body. "I didn't mean to wake you. No, obviously I did" she unpeeled his arms from her waist and stepped back, letting her hands trail down from his neck and over his bare chest before their limbs were untangled. "Just, yeah. Go back to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." She beamed cutely, blatantly fully awake—at least one of them was. She gave him a peck on the cheek then dashed off into her room next door, leaving Jeff perplexed but blissfully happy. Her fingerprints tingled a line across his neck, his lips and cheek humming with a happy buzz. He closed the door and shook it off, crawling back into bed confusedly. He drifted off to sleep, recalling their past again.  

*** 

Shadow shook her head with a small smile when Tyana rejoined her in their hotel room. "What was that about girl? You couldn't wait 'til morning for a little sugar?" 

Tyana shrugged, a smile she couldn't quite hold back spreading across her full lips, "something like that, yeah." She sighed, her smile fading a tad and then ran her fingers through her hair. When she was done, her hands then resting on her hips, she paused, blowing out a thoughtful puff of air, drawing it out. "I guess we should probably get into contact with Bret and Quande, tell them what's going down"

Shadow nodded and moved to find her communicator while Tyana did the same. They placed them both side by side on the bed so that Shadow could see their Guider's from where she sat and Ty could too from where she was stood near the television and chest of drawers. The screens lit up and both Carers looked instantly hungry for news. Shadow beamed as best she could and nodded, answering their question without it even having to be posed. 

"Yep" she confirmed verbally, "We did it. Mission completed. The Witnessing is officially dead. Ain't no way that bitch is getting kick started again now" she shrugged, blunt. 

Bret and Quande's faces lit up with happiness. "Brilliant!" Quande enthused. "I knew you'd do it, congratulations" 

Bret nodded and joined in, "That's great. I'll let the board know immediately. Well done girls, you've done it. You're totally free." Tyana lifted her eyes from the ground and looked at the man she had come to trust so greatly. She watched his exultant face flush with the reality and he looked at her like the excited big brother he was to her. He thought she was free. With a wry smile and scuff of her shoe she told him the rest. 

"Nope. Not quite. Well" she paused, looked over at her pink haired friend. "Shadow is. But not me, not yet anyway" 

Bret's forehead creased immediately with confusion while Quande cast a perplexed look at her Guided. Shadow didn't acknowledge the sidelong glance and instead raised her eyes to Tyana's, shaking her head firmly. 

"Nuh-uh girl, no way. Ain't no crap like that going down, it's you and me, to the end. That whole musketeer's gig, that's what it's all about. We in this together and I won't take it anyway but like that" Tyana raised a hand to object. 

"Shadow don't be silly. This isn't just some play mission. We're not trying to figure out a way to steal ice cream from room service" If they were discussing anything else Tyana would have had to laugh at the comment she had made; they had gotten a quart of Ben and Jerry's free of charge only last night and god only knows how many times before. She opened her mouth to interrupt the protest she could see Shadow forming. But Bret jumped in. 

"Wait, hold up. Will some one please tell me what exactly is going on?" Tyana looked down at his screen, noting how both hands were raised and aimed towards each girl as if he was standing between them, his face deadpan as he tried to decipher their almost code-like argument. 

Tyana sighed and took the cue to clue him in. "The Mission is over. But my assassins aren't giving up. We were targeted on the way back. Which means not only do they still wanna kill me but they're getting frailing impatient; that's the second time this week and I've never had that many attempts so close, its dead serious shit now." She scoffed, "No pun intended"  

Bret nodded, digesting it all. Instantaneously his fingers began to tap away on his keyboard and soon after Quande began to do the same. 

Shadow took her turn to sigh. "What are we gonna do then? We can't go back to the other realm and I think we all know neither of us would even if it were possible. And there's no way they're gonna give up until" she looked over at Tyana with a sunken frown. Her jaw set in stone. "And there's _no way that's_ gonna happen" Tyana was touched to see the concern all 3 others in the room were showing for her. Shadow was obviously up in arms over this and Quande and Bret were typing away so furiously Tyana was half expecting smoke to come out of their boards. 

Bretski slammed a certain key on his pad and waited, as if waiting for data to be delivered or processed. Quande looked behind her off the screen, where Tyana and Shadow couldn't see but had come to learn Bret was seated in the information center on the Other Side. They all had their eyes trained on the man with pale green hair. And he in turn had his windows set with a deadly, glazed look. 

"Simple. We have a threat. We pin point it." His face darkened, so serious it was almost painful to watch, looking at Tyana as if to say 'this is _you and _I_ will not allow you to be harmed'. "And we eliminate it."       _


	26. 25 Exhausted

**Chapter 25 – Exhausted **

_Tyana lifted her head, her eyes finding that all she could see was darkness. Black, empty, shadowed darkness. She clambered to her feet, her muscles aching and throbbing. Turning slowly she tried to let her eyes adjust while at the same time searching for a stream of light. A little way off she could see the bright glow of something reflecting the moonlight that she now realized was shining faintly through a window 10 ft up what must have been a wall. Curious, she headed towards the glinting object… _

Tyana shot up in bed, her breathing ragged when she realised she had been sleepingly thinking a dream that was terribly familiar. And she knew it was familiar because she had had it before. She had had it not long ago when she had passed out after returning from a date with Jeff. She sighed. The girl of turquoise hair looked over at the other bed in the room finding Shadow tucked safely beneath the covers, her body rising and falling with her gentle breathing. She could see the sun tingeing the sky line through the thin curtains of their hotel room and although Tyana knew that must have meant she couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour she slipped out of bed and wondered into the bathroom anyway. After splashing handfuls of crisp cold water onto her face she patted her skin dry and stared at herself in the mirror. 

Before long she was looking past her reflection at nothing in particular, just staring. Her vision blurred and her grasp on the sink eased as she stood although mesmerized. Suddenly her eyes clicked back into sharp focus and something unfolded before her. 

_She ducked the punch and fell into a roll, jumping to her feet a meter away. She pounced from the stance into mid air where she threw both legs out in a powerful kick, the soles of her feet connecting with flesh and sending a sickening crack of bones slicking through the air. Tyana landed in a crouch when she turned into a leg sweep, spinning and knocking both opponents to the floor with a heavy thud. Slightly out of breath she jumped to her feet, victorious. _

_And then she was rushed by 3 others. _

Tyana snapped her head to the side to shake the vision off once it had dissipated before her eyes. A quick pounding in her head started up, thumping against her temples as she tried to calm herself. She replayed the vision before her eyes again and drank in every detail she could find. Even after doing this twice more she still couldn't find it inside her head to catch the men's faces. Instead the only thing she could establish was that she was in the same concrete room in which she had awoken in her dreams. 

Without a second thought Tyana made for her communicator.   

*** 

Jeff kicked his feet gently, watching the ripples they created as they swayed through the cooled morning waters of the pool. The waves shone with the red rising of the sun and he lifted his eyes to watch it, warming inside with content at the beautiful simplicity of the dawn. His feet continued to kick, the waters continued to undulate and the sun continued to wake just as his mind began to float away from him, settling happily on the memory of his 3am wake up call from Tyana. He could still feel her kisses now, passionate and hungry, something about them still soft and tender still. He had tried to go back to sleep after that, he'd crawled into bed and smothered himself with the covers, and he had even drifted off for a short while but really his mind had stayed fixed firmly on her random act of pleasure. He had been wondering about it for the past 2 hours. And he intended fully to ask her, happily, about it when he felt she might be awake. The sun inched higher in the sky. 

But for now he would wait. After all it was early, she had gone to bed late; obviously she would be sleeping. 

*** 

Tyana paced the length of her bedroom only semi-conscious as her mind played her vision over and over as if on a loop, destined to play forever inside her mind. Bret watched her with one eye, the other trained with focus on his computer screen while he took notes on what Tyana was telling him. She spoke softly, her face creased in concentration as she tried to recall everything she could about the dream. She paused finally and sighed, her body relaxing at her discovering. 

"That's all I can remember; there's nothing more" 

Bret nodded and entered the information into his database, saving it incase the vision became relevant later. While his computer buzzed softly with the task he turned his attention to his stressed Guided, wishing she would catch a break some when soon, if only a small one; she really didn't deserve to be so hounded on such a constant basis. Just looking at her, at her tired face and her slightly limp hair showed she was beginning to get exhausted with the continuous worry and action. 

"Ok, I've got it all down. I'll run some tests on it if you want, see if it shows relevance to anything, but there's really nothing else I can do Ty. It's a vision and since you're the only one who gets them, we haven't developed a program to decipher their meaning yet."

Tyana, "No, I know. And I know it's hardly the simple facts and figures piece of information you can deal with. It's just that it sorta creeps me out that it's becoming reoccurring; I've got this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that somehow, it's not gonna be just a vision." She glanced over at Bret with doe like eyes, her true inner innocence displayed to full effect with the slender shimmering of worry glazing her violet orbs. 

Bret nodded, "I know. But you can't worry about it, I'm gonna figure out someway to make sure you're safe 24/7. And I'll figure out who these assassins are; I just need a little time. But for the moment how about you get some rest? You look tired" 

Tyana sighed at his suggestion and ran her hands through her hair, blowing her cheeks out as she did so. She glanced over at Shadow who sat up limply in bed, sedated by the early hour of the morning. She smiled wanly at the girl and nodded to ease Bret's concern for her. "Yeah, I am. I just don't think I can go to sleep." She crossed to the window and sat on the ledge with an exhausted breath escaping her lips. She fidgeted with the sleeve of her pajamas. 

Bret said something to her at the exact point in time when she gazed out of the window and found her eyes settling on the familiar figure with their feet dipped in the pool. Whatever Bret had said washed over her and she smiled very briefly as she got to her feet. "I think I'm gonna go for a walk, just round the grounds of the hotel. Maybe it'll tire me out just enough to get me to sleep better" she gave Shadow a thoughtful smile. Shadow beamed back sleepily, her eyes shutting for a second longer than they would have had she been fully awake. Tyana found her smallest communicator and slipped it into her pajama pocket. "I'll be back later. Get some sleep" she found her trainers, slipped them on and then left the room just as Shadow fell back into the depths of slumber. 

Tyana padded her way down the stairs at a leisurely pace, only half away that she was still dressed in her bed attire, and then strolled through the lobby to the pool doors. She slipped outside silently and waddled over to the known character, pausing beside them so they could acknowledge her presence before she took a seat beside them. 

Jeff looked up, his face calm, warm with the glow of the pool, and his lips curved instantly when he found Tyana gazing down at him with a tired expression. He patted the tiled spot beside him. She sat. 

"Can't sleep?" she asked him curiously, pulling off her trainers and setting them beside her. 

He shook his head, "No. And you?" 

She dipped her feet into the pool, her face creasing with the small shock of the cold water, then she relaxed next to him before she shook her head. "No, keep having this horrible dream; it made it really hard to stay unconscious" she stared down at her feet in the water, wading slowing through it, causing little undulations. Jeff kept his eyes glued to her face, tracing every contour to the sketchpad of his mind. After a moment of silence she raised her violet eyes and stared into his, something in them apologetic. "I'm sorry that I woke you this morning; it was really selfish of me."  

Jeff looked into her big cute eyes, at the explanation that lingered there and then he cupped her cheek with his hand and drew her to him, kissing her softly, dismissing her apology because he had liked her waking him up just to touch him like that. She kissed back and scooched closer, wrapping an arm around him as she let her lips dance with his. 

And right then, the danger her life was in was the farthest thing from her mind.  

****************************************************************** 

***A/N*** *dances like a butterfly* laaa laaa dee dee daaa! Thanks Shadow and Ashley for reviewing. Oh, and Hey Nina! *waves* 


	27. 26 Long Time Coming

**Chapter 26 – Long Time Coming **

Tyana snipped the end off the red wire and soldered it into the correct socket. She replaced the fuses and reversed the blue and green wires. A second later she gently swapped the Command board. She soldered the silver together and then connected the black wire. Exhaling she glanced up at Shadow who sat at the end of the bed watching her intently. The pinked haired woman smiled reassuringly and wrapped her arms around her legs. Tyana glanced back down at the mess of wires and bulbs and carefully placed the case back on. She twisted the miniature screws back in and sat the device on its correct axis. She flipped the On switch and watched as the mini screen lit up. It worked. 

_Memory Recovery Unit_

_Status: 100% correct working order_

_Memories recovered: 0_

Tyana felt her heart flutter in her chest and she looked up at Shadow with an exuberant expression. 

"It works?" Shadow inquired, lifting her chin from where it was resting on her knees. 

Tyana blinked back tears and nodded, "Apparently so. 100% working order" 

Shadow's face lit up. She hopped off the bed and made her way to stand beside Tyana where she sat in front of the device she had been waiting to use so desperately. It had been a long time coming. She rubbed Tyana's back as she smiled, looking down at her, purely happy for her. 

She dropped to a crouch and then she was looking up at Tyana, into her happy eyes. "You can give Jeff his memory back" she whispered.  

And that was all it took for Tyana to let the tears of joy slip from her eyes. 

*** 

"So, d'ya wanna go out tonight?" Jeff asked gently as Tyana washed the purple and green manic panic out of his hair; her idea. 

Tyana refilled her cup and poured it over Jeff's hair, watching as the swirls of purple and green washed away and slipped down the plug hole. She refilled the mug. "I dunno, I kinda feel like staying in, we can watch a film or something, just chill out. If you don't mind that is" she answered, her mind flickering to the memory device sitting in her bag just one door away. She poured the cup over his scalp. More dye escaped. 

"Not at all, sounds good." 

Tyana beamed, "Great" and continued to rinse out his hair. 

An hour later Tyana sat curled up in Jeff's arms, his newly dyed hair tickling her neck, her fingers intertwined in his, Legally Blonde playing on the television. Tyana was somewhat aware of the general plot of the film but her mind had been drifting away from her continuously since she had accepted Jeff's proposal that she spend the afternoon with him. She could feel her hands growing clammy and jittery with the tension, her mind flickering back constantly to the thought that in her bag that had been fetched from next door, the bag that was now propped up against the end of the bed, in that very bag was the one device she had only ever been that eager to use. And yet she had never been so nervous and so utterly terrified in her short but full life. What if it didn't work? What if they never got back what they were beginning to have? Sure it was all going well then but Tyana would never feel right if she had to live with memories that Jeff was totally unawares of. And what if it did work? What if he didn't believe it? Couldn't accept it? Rejected it? She couldn't live with knowing that she had once had something so perfect. Her hands continued to wrap themselves up in a fine film of worried perspiration.  

Tyana felt herself ease ever so slightly when Jeff took the hand he had been holding hers in and brushed it against her forearm, grazing his finger tips across the smooth tan of her arm. She left her eyes slip to watch his fingers dance across her, fluttering up her arm, sweeping to caress her shoulder. His breath was warming her neck as he hovered behind her, her back pressed to his chest. 

"Jeff?" she asked quietly, opposing the itch to close her eyes at his gentle attention. 

"Mm-hmm?" he responded, his hand pausing only momentarily before it continued in its adventure of grazing every flawless inch of her skin, looking for pores and finding them to be so miniscule her exterior looked to be entirely perfect. 

She smiled warmly and leant her weight back against him just that little bit more, "What're you doing?" 

She could sense his smile, small, soft, entirely his. "I'm looking at your skin" he replied, his voice so low in her ear that Tyana shivered involuntarily. 

"Is there a reason for that?" she asked, having to force herself to enunciate the words beyond pure lustful blabber, Reese Witherspoon babbling on in the background, an element she didn't even acknowledge. 

"Yeah" he mumbled, dribbling his fingers up over her collar bone, tracing the bottom of her neck, making her move her head to the side without a though, giving him access, allowing him to sweep away her hair. She waited in a trance, vaguely aware that she was expecting elaboration, not so sure of what it was on. "This is going to sound stupid." He began, his eyes fixed firmly on the profile, slightly shadowed due to the drawn curtains keeping out the late afternoon sun. 

"I'm sure it won't" she responded automatically, unaware of her comment until it was complete. 

"It will…I'm going to say it anyway. Ty…I feel like I know you" he whispered, his voice quiet with confidence and yet absolute uncertainty. Tyana felt her eyes opening, focusing better after the closing haze they had lapsed into, her sense soaring as she listened on. "Looking at you now, having you here, it makes me feel like there's something more to it. Something I don't know…It's something I can sense. I feel as if there's so much I don't know, so much I should be, um…recalling, almost." Her heart was thumping hurriedly, picking up on all the things he was saying, her mind sprinting off in a million and one directions as it tried to analyze it. "But I don't know what. I just don't know. And…and I've been having these dreams. Dreams of us, of being together, talking, but it's not like just another dream. It's like, like a déjà vu. I get this feeling in my gut of it having happened before. But I know it couldn't have." He sighed, his hand falling from her body and landing on the bed beside them, disheartened. "It sounds crazy, I know—I told you it would sound stupid" 

Tyana shook her head and she turned in his lap, twisting her body so that she faced him. "It doesn't." She bit her lip, looking at every contour of his face, taking in every lurking emotion, trying to decide what she should do, what she should say, what would be best. She smiled coyly, her eyes still rooming his features and she lifted her own hand, moving it to his face, hesitating when she was lingering near it. She caressed his cheek, stroking it gently until his eyes were assessing her in the same way she was him, until he had found his hand again and had clamped it over hers tenderly. 

"What?" he asked her, sensing the doubt, feeling her desire to speak. 

"What you said…it wasn't stupid. And it wasn't crazy." How did she say it? How did she tell him everything about her, about whom she was and whom she had been? How did she do it _again_? "Jeff I have it too. I…there's some things about me you don't know. A lot of things. Not bad things—as crazy as _this will sound—you've accepted them before. It's hard to explain and to tell you the truth I dunno if I can. But you have to trust me when I say there are so many things in this world that seem like they are one thing and the reality is they are quite another. And although I'm one of them I've only ever tried to do well, always. You have to believe that and you have to understand that; I can't explain if you don't, I can't tell you if you don't trust me, Jeff." He gave her an intense gaze, his eyes staring so hard into hers that she felt as if for a split second they had switched places, as if she had become him and him her. And finally after what was infinity of concentrated and torturous waiting he nodded. _

"I trust you" 

Tyana felt her eyes well up instantly and her breath rushed from her in relief, leaving her struggling not to collapse against him just with the happiness of those 3 words alone. "Thank you"

"So will you tell me? And explain?"  

She nodded and climbed out of her lap, crawling to the end of the bed to snatch up her bag. She scooped it onto the sheets gently, creeping back to Jeff and setting it down between then tenderly, gingerly with its power of their future and past relationships. He gave the bag, and then she a quizzical look, curious, questioning. Tyana untied the drawstring, pulling open the bag's gaping mouth, slipping her hand inside and slowly withdrawing the memory device, the silver and grey glinting between them. 

"This will explain; it'll show you all that I am, all that we are and have been. Jeff you'll know it all and I hope you'll accept it. You just have to watch this" she told him as she pointed to the bulb. 

He gazed at it briefly before he looked at her, "What is it? What does it do?"   

She inhaled deeply, flipping the switch to turn it on, getting it ready for use. "Do you want to ask questions…or do you want the answers?" she asked, her finger tracing the metal around the button that would turn it all around. Jeff stared at her for just a moment before his eyes found the device again, before his eyes clicked on to the sight of her finger near that little black knob. And he reached out, sliding her small finger onto the black, his hand over hers. He gave her one last look and then he stared into the bulb and he pressed down... 

***************************************************** 

***A/N*** hehe, cliff hanger, I am like SO mean! Mwa, hopefully you'll love me for it, even though I made you wait sooo long for this chap. Thank you to **Shadow**, **Billion Dollar Ashley and ****Someone for reviewing, I'm very grateful, :o)**


	28. 27 Every Last Thing

**Chapter 27 – Every Last Thing   **

The blue light flashed brightly throughout the room brilliantly, blinding Tyana for a split second, making her wonder what exactly it was doing to Jeff. When her vision cleared she watched him, staring down at the small machine in a dream-like state, his eyes glazed over and wholly unfocused. She wanted to reach out and touch him, awake him from his reverie and ask him if it was alright, if it was real. But her limbs weren't working and she could only gaze at him, probing and terrified and hopeful and silent. Slowly, as the minutes passed, his eyes lost the look of being phased and they began to regain center, focusing in. Then slowly he raised them to look at her and she stared into his orbs, desperate for any clues.

And then everything stopped for just that one crucial second before her lips began to tremble and she felt herself beginning to give into the disappointment and sadness of seeing the same unsure eyes that she had seen only minutes early. Tears began to roll agonizingly down her cheeks as she shook her head, not wanting to believe it. 

Jeff blinked back sadness too, apologetic and upset. "I'm sorry…I don't know" And she collapsed into his arms, her body shaking with the wracking sobs of the realization. The sobs that told the world that she knew she must have lost what they had forever. Jeff cradled her in his arms, hushing her quietly as he began to rock her gently backwards and forwards, trying to ease the pain he could feel radiating from every seemingly nonexistent pore. He could feel it welling up inside of him, the sensation of having let her down, the emotion of disappointment mixed with the before feelings of knowing and yet not, sensing it and yet not knowing what 'it' was. But from the way Tyana was shaking against him, heartbroken and torn, he knew 'it' was something he suddenly wanted more than anything else in the entire world. And that was all he could feel as she slowly and tiredly drifted off into the world of the sleeping.  

*** 

Tyana could feel something warm snaking up her stomach, latching on to her shoulders and shaking her gently, reluctantly but urgent. She fought against it, struggling to stay asleep, but as the minutes wore on she found herself being awoken, familiar green eyes appearing over her own when her lids fluttered open. Everything instantly rushed back to her, the fresh memories of using the device on Jeff, the heartbreak of it not working, the way she had cried until she could do nothing but lapse into a peaceful unconsciousness. 

"Jeff" she mumbled, closing her eyes again tiredly, rubbing the back of her hand against her sleep-caked lashes. 

"Tyana" he whispered, his hands on her shoulders, soft but strong as they held her. And she stopped stretching, her body tensing at that voice, at the underlying tones that she hadn't heard for so long, tones she had been convinced only seconds before that she would never again capture in her own ears. Her eyes shot open, eager, fervent, looking for specific eyes to be staring back at her. Jeff smiled, looking at the realization dawning on her beautiful face, the face he hadn't felt so close to in months. "I'm here" he told her, waiting for the next immediate reaction. He fell over backwards when she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, throwing her body on to his feverishly in the excitement of hope. He laughed and clung onto her, trying to stop them both from tumbling off the bed and hitting the floor. 

"Jeff" she gasped, brushing her turquoise looks out of her face so that she could look at him. "It's you? You remember?" she asked, her eyes gleaming violet with incandescent mauve flowing impatiently in a pool around her irises. 

He nodded, "every last thing" and then she was laughing, half chuckling, half crying with the joy. 

"Really? I, oh god, when you didn't remember, I thought, I thought you were gone" she gushed, her mind running over the recollection of her devastation. 

"I'm here." He replied smiling, brushing away her hair, wiping away her blissful tears. "When you were sleeping, and I was holding you, it just started to come back. And I remember. I know it all, even everything that has happened since they made me forget"  

"Really?" 

He laughed, "Really. Everything, Miss Malée." 

"Thank god" she squealed and gave him an almighty hug, only pulling away so that she could press her lips to his. And then she was swallowed up by the happiness of his true presence.    

*** 

Shadow flicked through her magazine, sighing in boredom when she reached the end of it for the third time. She blew out her cheeks then swung herself round so that she was sitting up and not lying on her stomach. She glanced over at the two communicators on the dresser, their screen's alight but the images of two working Guiders. Shadow gave a quick look to the two devices she had prepared since Tyana had been gone that afternoon; two tracking mechanisms to be assigned to herself and her friend as soon as possible because of the assassins that had proved determined to harm the turquoise bombshell. She sighed again and her eyes flew back to Quande and Bret, both typing busily on the computers. She really shouldn't bother them, they were working…but she was so bored. And so, so curious. She stopped biting back the question. 

"So how do you think Ty is going with Jeff? D'ya reckon she's used the device yet?" she quizzed, hoping to coax one of the two into conversation. 

Bret shrugged, "I don't know. I hope it works though, she deserves some happiness after all she's been through" 

Quande nodded in agreement as she continued to type, "It should work; if she fixed it up right he'll be back to normal in no time." 

Shadow felt herself getting excited for her friend just thinking about it, "oh she fixed it fine, I saw her doing it. God, it's gonna work and she's gonna be so happy; you're right, she totally deserves this" Just then as if reading their minds the door opened and Tyana walked in, her hand strolling in a step or two behind her, encased in a hand different and larger than her own. Shadow smiled as she followed the arm up to the body, the head perched atop it belonging to the man they had all been expecting. The beauty with blue-green hair beamed with luminescent contentment and glanced back at her partner briefly before she let her eyes flip back to the pink haired girl and the two people at the end of the universal links.   

"Shadow, Bret, Quande, I'd like you to meet Jeff. And yes, all memoried-up Jeff" she added, sensing Shadow's question. The friend beamed happily at the response, much in the same way that the Guiders did. Jeff gave them friendly smiles. "Jeff, this is Shadow, as you well know. And this is Bret and that is Quande"  

He smiled, "nice to meet you for not the first time ever." He paused then, thinking, "Um, no, that signals out Quande" He ran a hand through his dyed hair nervously, making them all chuckle. Tyana laughed and hugged herself to his chest, calming him down. 

"Don't be nervous, they love you already" she smiled, kissing his jaw, melting him immediately at her touch. 

Bret beamed proudly as he watched the man struggle not to kiss her full on right there, as if he were on his best behavior because he was meeting the parents. Obviously in Tyana's case that wasn't possible but the three present in that room were the next best thing, people that meant far more to her than any biological link; they were her true family. "Jeff" he caught the man's attention, making him looking at him with slight anxiousness. He smiled warmly to ease him, "Welcome back"

*** 

Tyana fell back onto the bed, Jeff on top of her as they kissed tenderly. She felt him slip a hand beneath the hem of her shirt, resting his palm flat against her back, his fingertips moving only slightly to caress her skin just so, causing little ripples of sensation to shudder through her. She bit her lip when his mouth trailed away from hers, moving to slide down her neck. She could already feel her heart beat thumping at a great volume and with great speeds inside her head, in her body, everywhere around her, the pumping so much more urgent and excited then any other time of her life, even more so than when she had been in the numerous battles that had fortunately ended in her favor. As Jeff's lips caressed her, covered his neck and shoulders in downy kisses she leant her head backwards, enjoying the sensation while she ran her hands through his hair. After a moment she gently pulled him up so their lips could meet again, her body already aching from being separated in that way for so long. She kissed him softly, an underlying heat beneath the touch so immense that she could feel her stomach churning with burning hot undulations of passion. She felt him smile against her lips very briefly, the small show of happiness turning into a full blown beam when she reached out and pulled his shirt up over his head, dropping it to the floor beside his bed without a second thought. She wrapped her legs around his waist and with one swift move ended up on top of him, straddling him, her turquoise hair falling down over her face. He laughed at the switch and placed his hands on her stomach, gripping it gently. 

"I see your combat moves could come in handy" he teased, chuckling still. She giggled with him but hushed when he shifted the mood, reaching up and brushing hair out of her violet eyes. He stroked her face, "You're too beautiful" he whispered. 

"Jeff" she murmured back, her passion seemingly dampened by what looked somewhat like child-like fear.

He gazed up at her concerned, "What?" he swept away more hair, shifting beneath her with worry. 

She bit her lip and brushed her very finger tips against his stomach, staring down at his body with a plain but pleasant expression. When she lifted her eyes up from his torso she was looking up at him through her lashes, biting her lip a little. "Jeff, I've…I've never done anything, like…" she bit her lip again before looping some hair behind her ears, sighing. "I mean I'm a virgin" 

He looked at her innocent face, her eyes shining with the naivety of the 17 year old girl she was before she morphed into the women that sat atop him. And he nodded, understanding. "I know" the truth was he did; he hadn't guessed, something inside him could tell—it was probably the way she always seemed so new to every touch they had ever shared. She had seemed so new to it because she was. It was something he loved most about her. "It's ok. We don't have to" he assured her, rubbing his thumb across her left thigh gently, smiling softly. He took her delicately and laid her beside him, leaning on his side to kiss her shoulder. She stared up at him, bright eyed, beautiful, uncorrupted. And he knew he could wait forever for her, so long as she was ready. 

After a moment she reached up to him, slipping her hand around the back of his neck and drawing him to her, capturing his lips with hers in a feathery kiss. When she released him for a precious breath he found she had clasped his hands around the rim of her shirt, looking at him with eyes that told him it was alright. He shook his head at her, insisting silently that it wasn't necessary. But Tyana pushed herself up so that she was sitting upright. She encased Jeff's hands in hers and did the hard work for him, pulling her shirt up and off using his hands. She threw the shirt on the floor and sat watching him, her hands tenderly stroking his that she still clasped. He slipped one of his hands free from hers and grazed her shoulder with the firm softness that was his thumb. His fingers trailed down over her collar bone, dipping over her chest and sliding down her toned stomach, circling her torso then and slipping into the base of her spin; he pulled her to him, kissing her lovingly. 

And she fell deeply into his world. 

******************************************** 

***A/N*** Awww, see, I did it, he remembers! Had you going there for a while didn't I though? Lol. Anyway, thanks **Shadow** and **Someone for reviewing, I really appreciate it, MWA! **


End file.
